Chicago's Roosevelt football coach's journey back from car crash inspires team
It's a new era for Roosevelt University athletics after making the move from NAIA to Division II.
The Lakers football team is embracing the step up in competition, mirroring the strength of its head coach, Jared Williamson.
The Roosevelt football team is eager to make noise this season.
"I definitely say there's a chip on our shoulder," said Luke Desherow, a Roosevelt defensive lineman. "It's no secret we were ranked eighth in the conference out of eight. We don't think that's true and we want to show people they messed up and we're a force to be reckoned with."
The Lakers are competing this season it their first year at the NCAA Division II level as a member of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
"Opportunity is major," said linebacker Jaylen Olokun. "We got a lot of guys, a lot of transfers, lot of new guys that came in and want to buy into the program. They want to buy into the way we do things here."
The program has been doing things Williamson's way since its inaugural season in 2011. That's when he started the football program at Robert Morris University, which merged with Roosevelt in 2020.
"As a child, I don't know why I just always wanted to be a coach," Williamson said. "I think originally it was a competitive thing. You just love competition. If I'm playing cards with my kids, if I'm playing ping pong, I want to win."
But winning had to be suddenly put on hold for the Lakers' head coach a few seasons ago.
"After our homecoming game in October of 2022, I was about 10 minutes from my house, and I was hit by a drunk driver across the median," he said. "So thankful for the amazing first responders that were able to cut me out of my truck and fly me to a hospital and I spent 40 years in a hospital and rehab facility, had seven surgeries."
Williamson spent last season on the sidelines on crutches, but he said he's feeling great now in his second full season back coaching after undergoing hip replacement surgery in May.
"He's walking now, everyone was so happy to see that," Desherow said. "Like, 'Coach Willie is walking!' Like you don't know how long he's been, when I visit here, he was in a wheelchair."
Receiver Keonta Nixon added, "I love being around him. He never has a frown. He always brings my energy up, someway, somehow makes jokes but he's also serious when it comes down to learning what we have to learn and executing our plays."
But overcoming adversity is only one of the things this year's Lakers team is learning from their head coach every day.
"Don't take every day for granted," Olokun said. "Keep every day, every day going forward, keeping a positive mindset because there's always somebody dealing with something harder."
Desherow added, "There's a lot of people on this team who would run through a wall for him. We've seen how resilient he is, the things he's dealt with and if we can replace a fraction of that we'll be in good shape."
It's a team that's grateful to tackle a Division II schedule, with a coach who feels the same way.
"The lord really blessed me and allowed me to learn things during this that I wouldn't have learned if it didn't happen," Williamson said. "So it's been such a blessing and it's my job to pass that along that realization so if it sinks a little bit, that's a good thing."
Roosevelt is still looking for its first win after starting 0-4 in the Lakers' first season in D-II but two of those losses came against Top-5 teams.