Lake Park graduate Keonta Nixon is playing for the Roosevelt University Lakers as they move up to Division II football.
Photo courtesy of Steve Woltmann / Roosevelt Athletics
Roosevelt University may start offering a degree in Commuter Science.
Their outdoor athletes have become experts in navigating Chicago highways. While the campus is downtown on Michigan Avenue, the football team plays and practices at the former Forest View High School campus in Arlington Heights.
“We’ve almost become traffic pattern experts,” head coach Jared Williamson said. “In fall camp we practice early, and we’re out there in 30 minutes.
“Once school starts and we go to our afternoon schedule, if you don’t leave downtown by 2 o’clock, you’re in trouble. If you leave at 2:20 or something, you’ve added 30 minutes to your commute at minimum.”
The school has buses that carry teams to the suburbs each day. Roosevelt soccer also plays in Arlington Heights, while softball is based in Rosemont and baseball in Crestwood. There’s even a contingency plan if a football player misses the bus, which involves a pickup at the Rosemont CTA station.
This week is all about a different sort of move for Roosevelt. The Lakers made the jump from NAIA to NCAA Division II this year. They’ll make their Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference debut Saturday with a game at No. 5 Ferris State.
It’s a daunting move, but Williamson has been head coach from the very beginning, starting the program from scratch in 2010, when it was known as Robert Morris.
Already this season, Roosevelt has faced a variety of competition, playing nonconference games against Division III power Wisconsin-Whitewater, FCS non-scholarship school Valparaiso University, and NAIA’s Campbellsville (Kentucky).
“With the transfer portal, with the super conferences, underneath the top levels of college football, you’re either a good team, you’re an intermediate team or you’re a lower team,” Williamson said. “The governing body or the level doesn’t really matter.”
Roosevelt athletic director Michael Cassidy said the decision to become Division II began with an invitation from the GLIAC, which had dropped to seven teams for football. All of the league’s football teams are in Michigan, but for basketball and other sports, the GLIAC includes Wisconsin-Parkside and Purdue-Northwest.
Roosevelt is the third Division II program in Illinois, joining downstate Quincy and McKendree.
“We thought it was a good move,” Cassidy said. “It’s a differentiator for our athletic department. We’re Chicago’s only NCAA Division II school. We just started athletics at Roosevelt in 2010, so I think this was part of our maturation process. I think we prepared ourselves well.”
Roosevelt recruits nationally, but some area players have stood out. The leading receiver is Keonta Nixon (Lake Park), who had 209 receiving yards against Valpo. The top three tacklers on defense are from the suburbs — Jaylen Olokun (Homewood-Flossmoor), Colin Day (Plainfield North) and Jacob Bellizzi (Maine West).
The program is growing, but the commute won’t change. Cassidy said there are no plans to move Roosevelt’s home field out of Arlington Heights. In fact he’s hoping there’s reason to expand the stadium in the future.
“They’re a great partner, District 214, so it works for us,” Cassidy said. “It’s a great facility.”
Brass Bell tolls:
Regular season in the CCIW tends to get a bit noncompetitive. No. 1-ranked North Central won its first two league games by a combined 112-9. That shouldn’t be an issue this week when No. 23 Wheaton hosts North Central in the annual battle for the Little Brass Bell at 1 p.m. Saturday.
The schools don’t agree on the number of times this game has been played, either 104 or 106, beginning in 1900. The Little Brass Bell was introduced to the rivalry in 1946, and the bell itself reportedly has ties to an 1800s dispute over the location of the DuPage County courthouse.
North Central has won the last three meetings, by 19, 13 and 13 points. In 2019 when the Cardinals won their first Division III national title, they lost to Wheaton 35-21 in the regular season.
Quick hitters:
Tyler Erkman (Lake Zurich) blocked a punt for North Dakota in a 72-35 victory over Murray State. There’s another Lake County connection in Grand Forks. Linebacker Malachi McNeal (Warren) is the team’s second-leading tackler. … Saturday’s slate features an instate FCS battle in Carbondale as Southern Illinois hosts Illinois State. Both teams were thumped in Missouri Valley openers last week. …
Elmhurst got its first win of the season last week, beating North Park 21-14. Quarterback John Odom (Wheaton Warrenville South) threw 2 touchdown passes, one of those to R.J. Anderson (Jacobs). … Breyden Smith (Hersey) took a punt return 52 yards for the winning touchdown in Augustana’s 24-20 win over Millikin. Mike DiGioia (Schaumburg) contributed 100 rushing yards.