Tray Richardson, left, and Jeffrey Barnett, Class of 2015, Trine University
FREMONT – As the Little Giants get set to open the 2017 season, the minds of the players are filled with formations, reads and putting in the work required to have a successful season. Chances are few, if any, are worried about what life will be like when their time in the purple and white is finished.
But, as the team closed its first week of practice with its intersquad scrimmage, a handful of recent Little Giant graduates looked on from the sidelines, enjoying their stroll through their old stomping grounds, reminiscing about the good times and dreaming of one more snap in Don Paul Stadium.
“We miss this so much,” said Jeffrey Barnett, class of 2015. “We would give anything to come back and play one more game for Fremont Ross. It went by real fast.”
While the 2017 season kicks off 7 p.m. Friday at home against Springfield, the alumni know first-hand that Week 10 will be here all too soon. Tray Richardson, another 2015 graduate and Barnett’s current teammate at Trine University, hopes the current Little Giants appreciate how special these years at Ross are and how quickly they’ll pass.
“I think they should know, even though it feels like it’s going to, it’s not going to last forever,” Richardson said. “So while you’ve got the opportunity, take advantage of it, make the most the most of it.”
Though watching as an alum, as opposed to suiting up, was bittersweet for some, Tyler Schell, Class of 2016, was amused to see how far the current Little Giant upperclassmen have come from when he knew them as freshmen and sophomores.
“It’s fun. You get to see the guys that we so small when you left and now they’re men, they’re big guys and it’s cool to see how they’ve transformed in a couple years while you’re gone,” said Schell, now a student at Ohio State. “I do miss it a little bit, but it’s overpowered by the fun of it.”
Another member of the Class of 2016, Isaiah McDonald, said the Little Giants have a chance to not just play a game, but also learn a life lesson or two.
“Life is going to send some things that will knock you down, but having fun is the key to life,” McDonald said. “That’s something football taught me playing here, always give it your all, whatever you do in life.”