Like many parents during move-in weekend, Karen Morris of Olathe, Kan. made a trip to Carbondale encompassing six hours and 362 miles in order to support her child who is spending his first year at SIU– his first extended time away from family.

But unlike most other relatives this August morning Morris didn’t have to do annoying thing such as lug a fish tank or a plasma screen up 15 floors of University housing.

She just had to watch a little football.

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With camcorder in hand and camera strap wrapped around her neck, Morris hustled around the lower level of the eastern stands of McAndrew Stadium for a good look of the SIU football’s end-of-camp scrimmage. Her baby had been settled in for weeks as a wide receiver and is searching for playing time in the loaded position; Morris said her son Bryce has grown much since becoming a member of Saluki football.

“He’s matured more over his time here than I’ve ever seen,” Morris said.

After the scrimmage, with a wide smile showing and fresh sweat still beading on his face Bryce stated why he had to mature and who helped make it happen.

“Coming out here you got to mature quickly, especially in trying to be out here with a field full of men,” he said. “[Coach Jerry Kill] treats us very well, I love him. I might have only known him for a couple of months but he tells us what we need to do, tells us what we’ve done wrong and how we can do it right next time.”

The coach-as-father-figure is an almost clichd concept but it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t work for SIU football. If you ask Kill and the latest crop of transfers and freshmen what motivates the winning culture of SIU football they’ll all tell you that a sense of being part of a family is what fuels the fire.

Freshman safety Ian Lundy has managed to impress Kill in preseason practices and Kill has stated “he’s done an excellent job.” During Lundy’s visit to SIU, it was Kill and SIU who made a lasting impression.

“No other college I visited really talked about family like [Kill] talked about family,” Lundy said. “So I chose them and I came in and they just grabbed me by their arms and took me by their side.”

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For freshmen like Lundy and Morris, SIU feels like a first love blossoming on the McAndrew Stadium turf while for transfers like junior defensive end Lorenzo Wims, SIU has shown itself to be a source of rejuvenation. A place where the game this former Ball State Cardinal loves, proves itself to be worthwhile again.

“I heard [SIU] was a great program, and the program where I was at was going downhill,” Wims said. “I heard the coaches here are off the chain, they’ve came through for me.”

Along with the coaches came teammates to deal with as well and for Wims that hasn’t been a problem. He’s even managed to take on a bit of a leadership role, schooling fellow transfer Jon Hamm, a 6-6 junior college transfer who didn’t start playing organized football until 2003.

“We all push each other,” Wims said. “I’m looking up to them and Jon Hamm and some of the other guys are looking up to me because I came from a Division I-A college. It’s just a big circle of every one looking out for each other, we’re all brothers.”

They call football the ultimate team sport but lets not get too syrupy — all this brotherhood and togetherness is done with the intention to smash and conquer an opponent. With all the violence and risk involved with this sport it may be necessary to carry more hope and idealism than even the average college student.

In sticking to this philosophy Kill, as a spiritual leader, believes more than anyone in that dogma.

“I’d get fired from the university if I don’t win enough games, but that’s not why I’m here,” Kill said. “My job is to take a young lad and make him a man by the time he gets out of his program. That’s what the good lord is going to judge me on and, hell, that’s the only one I don’t want firing me.”

Why would you want to sacrifice your personal well being for someone who doesn’t share these feelings and won’t make that bond? Think of that when you watch the team this year.

“That’s why you create a family and we’ve got a hell of a family,” Kill said. “We don’t care if you’re rich, poor, what color you are, we care about each other. When we care more about the other person more than we care about our selves that’s when we win football games.”

Mother Morris continued to watch her son all throughout the scrimmage, proudly sporting a Saluki Family Association t-shirt. She stayed pleased with how Bryce was doing, pleased with his new family. But like a good family member she kept it real when an errant pass flew just out of Bryce’s diving reach.

“Didn’t look too good there,” Morris said. “But it wasn’t a good pass anyway.”

Reporter Kyle Means can be reached at [email protected]