69

ach August, more than 20,000 students return to the Twin Cities to start a new year

of school at Illinois State. For some, the trip consists of a short drive into campus from one of the surrounding communities or even from across town. For others, the trip may be a bit longer on the highway but a trip from Chicago or St. Louis is still under three hours to ISU. For a small few, that trip is much longer and involves moving away from family and friends who are halfway across the country with the help of a plane flight.

One look at the Illinois State football roster and one can see all of these scenarios play out. The roster is comprised of players from as close as Bloomington and Normal to as far away as Washington and Florida. For many of these players, the transition to being a collegiate student-athlete is underway or almost complete, but for a select group, the journey is just beginning.

Six of the newest Redbirds just beginning their new journeys at ISU will not

only have to adjust to being a collegiate student-athlete, but they will also have to do it far away from their friends, family,

coaches, teammates and teachers they have spent all their time with over the past four

years of their life. With three players

coming out of the state of Washington and three others coming from Florida, the

recruiting class has both coasts covered and the transition for all should be interesting to watch.

In mid-July, Redbird freshmen Tevin Allen, James Marrishow and Daniel Donnelly showed up on campus to move into the dorms and begin summer school classes at ISU. All three hail from the Sunshine State and were greeted with hot, humid weather that made them feel right at home. They unpacked cars and took their belongings up eight flights of stairs to their home for the next few months, before fall camp starts and the move out to Tri-Towers into their permanent dwellings for the school year.

“Ever since I made my official visit, I knew this was the right place for me,” Donnelly said as he dumped duffel bag of clothes on to his bed to put away into the closet. “The coaches and the players made me feel right at home and the town is great. I thought it was the perfect fit and after signing day, I couldn’t wait to get here and start school and be a part of football program here at ISU. It’s exciting to finally be here and get going.”

Donnelly, a 6-foot-4, 295 pound offensive lineman out of Monarch High School in Coconut Creek, Fla., made the trip with his mother, Lenore, and flew directly into Central Illinois Regional Airport. That fact, along with the familiarity with the last name of one of Illinois State’s assistant coaches, Dan Shula, comforted the matriarch of the family in the decision to have her some move so far away from home to ISU.

“I think Daniel has a great opportunity here at Illinois State, not only to play football, but also to get a great education,” she said. “We’re very excited that he is a Redbird and we look forward to making that quick plane trip here and watching him play. Add in the fact that coach Shula has a 954 area code and it felt close to the heart. We’ve known the name Shula forever and that was the first draw, but when he came here on his visit it sealed the deal. He came home from his official visit and said ‘Mom, this is the place for me.’”

A potential future anchor on the offensive line along with Donnelly, Marrishow was one of the biggest players to show up on move-in day. The 6-foot-5, 270 pounder arrived from Orlando, Fla., and crawled out of a SUV driven by his sister, Delta, and started carrying things into the residence hall to get comfortable, before starting classes the next day along with his new teammates. He shared many of the same feelings as his teammates, but also recognized the magnitude of the moment at hand.

“I’m really excited to move in, but nervous at the same time to start a whole new chapter in life,” Marrishow said. “I’m ready for the ride and looking forward to getting started. Now that I’m here, I just need to stay focused on getting the job done in the classroom and on the football field and everything else will fall into place.”

Not too far behind Donnelly and Marrishow came Allen, who was picked up at the airport and came with the smallest amount of clothes and belongings compared to the rest of his teammates moving in. He enjoyed the fact that there were so many other players from the state of Florida in his recruiting class and knows that will be beneficial to all of them when times get tough.

“I’m sorry, but I think Florida has the best talent in the nation,” Allen said. “I’m sure that there are people out there that would argue for Texas or California, but I think we have a lot of great players coming out of our state. It’s nice to have a few other guys here from Florida who know what the environment is like and who I can relate to.”

That confidence may stem from Allen’s experience at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., where he helped lead his team to a perfect 15-0 record, a 2010 Florida Class 5A State Championship and a National Championship during senior season. Playing against some of the best athletes in the nation is something that Allen thinks will also help in his acclimation to the speed of the game,

A Whole New Ball GameBy Mike WilliamsE

Freshman football player Mike Banks wheeling in his suitcase.

70 redbird magazine | august 2011

something that many newcomers are shocked by when they first start playing collegiate football.

“Playing some of the best talent in the state of Florida and being a part of one of the most successful high school programs in the nation should help in the transition for me,” Allen said. “I think the speed of the players will be pretty comparable, but the size and strength differences will be the biggest factor in the way guys play the game.”

It was easy to see how excited Donnelly, Marrishow and Allen were to get their college careers started and start their new paths as freshmen at ISU. However, there was one thing that all three talked about that they were not looking forward to and were worried about: winter.

“The first winter is going to be brutal for us south Florida guys,” Donnelly said. “We’re not used to playing in cold and snowy weather, and I will definitely know who to hang out inside with during the winter (speaking about his fellow teammates from Florida). But, I don’t think it will take us long to adapt, and I think I may actually really enjoy playing in the cold like some of our other lineman tell me they do.”

Coming from the state of Washington, Justin Lane and Alex Donnelly are no strangers to cold weather, snow and winter and will not have to worry about that transition like their new teammates from Florida will have to. However, much like their teammates from Florida, they were greeted with weather from home on their

move-in day as they scrambled to and from cars in a constant rain and cool, gloomy conditions.

The weather was not enough to quell the excitement both felt for being at Illinois State. Lane, a 6-foot-2, 200 pound quarterback out of Arlington, Wash., amassed 8,030 career yards passing and threw for 83 career touchdown

passes at Lakewood High School and earned Associated Press All-State Class 2A honors following his senior season. His talents were noticed by Illinois State offensive coordinator and fellow Washington native Luke Huard, who made Lane feel right at home at ISU.

“When I first met with Coach Huard, I felt like we had a strong connection and really understood what he was looking for in a quarterback,” Lane said. “Then, when I came on my official visit, I really liked the university and the town better than some of the FBS schools I visited. I thought the whole experience was top-of-the-line and it grabbed my attention immediately. ISU is a long way from home, but the experience here outweighed the distance factor and made the decision to come here very easy for me.”

Aside from Huard’s guidance, Lane will be able to lean on the experience of his team ‘big brother’ and mentor, Matt Brown. Every Redbird newcomer is paired up with a veteran player already on the team that will show them the ropes and help ease in their transition. In Brown, Lane not only has a trusted teammate but also a teacher as well.

“I think having Matt Brown as my big brother in the program has already helped me out a lot,” Lane said. “I’ve been talking to him a lot since signing day and any question I ever have for him, he answers and helps me out. He’s been there with me the whole time and has really helped me with the playbook and getting to know our offensive system. He’s had a lot of success in a short time here, and I want to learn

James Marrishaw unloading his car.

Daniel Donnelly moves in with help from his mother.

72 redbird magazine | august 2011

as much from him as I can so I can be a better quarterback and teammate in the future.”

Alex Donnelly’s transition to college life may be bit easier, with extended family members living just a couple hours away in Chicago. A six-foot, 200 pound safety from Kirkland, Washington, Donnelly is still a long way from home but in just a short time though, he already felt like he was home thanks to a lot of new teammates.“Coming here has been great and it’s a different experience every day,” Donnelly said. “The guys have been really welcoming and I have a lot of relatives in Chicago who I visit all the time, so I have a support system built in there already. The guys from the Chicago area have already offered to take me up there with them when they go home so I can see my family. Those are the types of things that will make this process much easier when you have people like that who you can lean on. I’ve already made a lot of great friends here at ISU in just a short time, so I know the next four years will be awesome.”

All of those new teammates from all over the country have different stories and come from different backgrounds. Aside from wanting to play collegiate football, they all have different reasons for wanting to come to ISU. Donnelly has made a point to get to know those stories and what his teammates are all about, which is something that many freshmen are skeptical about doing.

“It’s really cool to play with people from all over the country,” Donnelly said. “All of the guys are unique and have their own stories and grew up in different ways. It’s interesting to get to know all the guys and find out where they come from and who they are as a person. That’s the first step to becoming a good teammate and becoming part of the Redbird family.”

With their families thousands of miles away, the Redbird family will have to become that support system that is so important to have for the new freshmen football players at ISU. The coaches, teammates, athletic trainers, managers,

athletic department staff and professors that make up the Redbird family will provide the guidance the newest ‘Birds needed to stay on the right path on the field and in the classroom.

No matter how much support the players receive from their families at home or from their Redbird family, the focus is now on them to become their own men and take responsibility for their commitment to being a student-athlete. Some may call it a rite of passage or simply just growing up, but whatever it’s called, the focus is not lost on some of the newest ISU students to come to campus.

“I’m excited to start summer school and my education here at Illinois State,” Allen said. “Not many people get the opportunity to go to college, play football and have their education paid for. I know that I’m not guaranteed anything in the game of football after college, so getting my degree will be my biggest focus here at ISU.”

“When I left home, my parents just told me to dream big and take care of business,” Lane added. “Being so far away from home, they are not always going to be here if I need something. I just need to take care of myself now and do what I came here to do, which is play collegiate football and get a degree.”

When asked the same question, I’m sure all of the freshmen football players would agree with Lane’s final statement. No matter what state they come from and now matter how far away they are from their family, they all want to play college football and get a degree. That seems like a pretty simple statement, but in reality they will meet a lot of new people, experience a lot of new things and figure out who they while attempting to achieve those goals and that is the real journey.

continued from page 70.

Tevin Allen making the move into the residence hall.