People might be surprised to find out which WSU cheerleader is on senior linebacker Justin Sagote’s mind each Saturday.

She’s easily the shortest cheerleader Sagote knows, but that’s OK. Most 4-year-olds don’t have a lot of height to begin with.

“So, I have a 4-year-old sister,” Sagote said. “She puts on her little cheerleading outfit every game, and she’s going crazy. It’s cool because I’ve got something to play for now, and she looks up to me a lot.”

Sagote’s life and football career has been all about overcoming challenges and going with the flow. Growing up, he said he remembers experiencing hardship.

“Growing up I lived in San Jose, and then we had some financial issues, and we had to move in with my auntie in East Paolo Alto,” he said. “Then, my family finally got some money, moved back to San Jose, and ever since we’ve been in San Jose.”

Sagote said his childhood in San Jose included just a few years of football, only one of which was spent at linebacker.

“I didn’t start playing football until high school,” Sagote said. “I didn’t play pop warner and stuff. My dad wouldn’t let me because he said I was too big, and he wanted me to go against bigger guys.”

Being called big is something Sagote might laugh about today. He said as a linebacker, he always feels like there’s a chip on his shoulder.

“I will always feel like I’m the small guy,” he said. “That’s my chip right there. I’ve just got to prove people wrong.”

Proving people wrong has been his specialty since high school. Originally an offensive guard and center on his football team, Sagote joined the wrestling team his junior year and ended up losing weight, which allowed him to switch to linebacker.

“It was crazy because I was used to going and getting linebackers,” Sagote said. “I was 240 – it was mostly fat though. I had a friend who was always our inside linebacker. I trained with him, and he helped out a lot.”

After he made the move, Sagote said coaches didn’t always take him seriously because it was only his first season at linebacker. At times, he even joked that his stance was “awful.”

After about five games, Sagote said the position became instinctual. Throughout the end of high school and throughout junior college, Sagote said he polished his game. By his sophomore year at the College of San Mateo in California, he received legitimate college offers, he said.

Sagote dropped a scholarship offer from San Diego State after they wouldn’t let him entertain the offers of other schools, he said. Then, Sagote said he had his heart set on Purdue. However, WSU came in and rained on the boilermakers’ parade the day before signing day when they called and offered Sagote a scholarship as a Pac-12 linebacker. While Sagote inked a scholarship with the Cougars, Texas A&M and Louisville tried to call and steal the California native. However, he said he knew the Pac12 was the place to be.

Sagote took the chance and signed with the Cougars without seeing the campus. He said he was relieved when he arrived in Pullman and saw the Student Recreation Center.

“I don’t really go out, so they were like, ‘What do you want to do?’ I was like, ‘Can we go to the rec and play basketball?’” he said.

Sagote said he was in Pullman heaven. All he needed was the encouragement of his family and teammates, he said. Sagote said one teammate in particular doubled as a family member and played a key role in his development.

“I always had my brother,” Sagote said. “He was the main guy. He was really good, and I just looked up to him a lot.”

Then, Sagote noticed things start to change.

“By the time we got to sophomore and junior year, there were just a lot of bad things,” he said. “He hung out with the wrong friends and stuff. I kind of thank him for where I’m at now because he never let me follow him anywhere. He would always protect me and stuff.”

Now, Sagote said things are better for his brother.

“He texts me almost every day,” he said. “It helps me a lot because he just motivates me a lot.”

Next summer, Sagote will become the motivator in his family when he becomes the first to graduate from a university.

“It means a lot. My mom and dad are really excited,” he said.

What’s even greater for Sagote is that he has a chance to reciprocate the motivation received from his favorite cheerleader on Saturdays.

“(My sister) just started going to school and she says, ‘I want to go to college like you,’” Sagote said.