What are you studying at Hillsdale?
Exercise science.
What brought you to Hillsdale?
I knew I wanted to play sports in college and Hillsdale would let me play football and run track if I wanted to. Then I came on a couple of visits here and got along well with the coach and staff. I loved how they ran the program, like the honor code and what Hillsdale stands for. When I was trying to find a school, my parents encouraged me to find a school where I also liked the education. Hillsdale has great academics and that was definitely a major selling point. The way that everyone holds themselves to a higher stander — being respectful and treating each other with care. You don’t get that a lot at other colleges.
What are some differences between playing high school football versus college football?
Everybody is bigger, faster, and stronger in college. I came from a pretty small high school; we only had around 500 students. The other schools we played were also very small, so we didn’t have a lot of guys playing college football after graduating. It’s also a lot more mental than I thought — being prepared for the team, watching a lot of film, seeing how to fix your mistakes. It’s a lot more technical in a lot of ways. It’s also a huge time commitment compared to high school. It was weird getting used to it, but now it’s not that big of a deal. But it’s a lot of meetings, weightlifting, and practices. The normal day is around four to six hours a day.
How did you recover from your high school injury?
My senior year of high school, I was having a pretty good season; we were undefeated and I was getting a lot of looks from different colleges. But at the fourth game, I dislocated my shoulder and in the process I broke my bone and tore my labrum all the way down. I had to get major surgery and stop for six months. I slowly rehabbed it and it was a long process in getting it back to normal. It was a tough time, because I’ve always been a three-or-four-sports guy during the school year. I went from doing everything to doing nothing. It kind of drove me nuts being bored all the time. I love playing sports and different activities, so when I couldn’t do those things it was really depressing. My parents were there to help. They’re such big influences in my life; always my biggest support system.
What do you enjoy about Hillsdale football?
We got a great team with not only great athletes, but also great guys. I think it’s rare for colleges to have this because a lot of times college teams have great football players who are not religiously great. Here, we have well-rounded people with good character. I can play football and have a great relationship with others as well. The coaching staff is great; they do well in preparing us as a team against our opponents. They try to make us the best people and athletes. I love how Dr. Jennings, our team chaplin, does chapel before our games. He’ll gives us a message that goes along with some bible readings and verses. This was something new to me. Another cool thing we do is team bible studies every Wednesday. We can incorporate faith into football and our team, which is really great.
Who on the team do you admire?
Trey Brock, he’s a great receiver and role model to look up to. He has a very strong, religious life and does a great job academically. He’s a great guy to look up to. Chance Stewart also, he’s a great guy and he and Trey both lead the bible study. There’s a bunch of great guys on the team who I can always look up to.
