He marveled about all the high fives he shared with the players and how all those heartfelt greetings left his hand numb.
While that might sound like Drew VanVleet’s assessment of the Dayton Flyers’ 35-19 victory over previously unbeaten, nationally-ranked Presbyterian College Saturday at Welcome Stadium – a game where he started at quarterback in place of injured Bryce Schondelmyer, who almost surely is lost for the season said coach Trevor Andrews – those gushing reflections actually came a dozen years ago.
They come from a school paper VanVleet wrote as a third grader in Richmond, Indiana.
He’s the son of two former UD athletes:
His dad, Brad, was a team captain and All-Pioneer League linebacker for the Flyers in 1999 and 2000. His mom, known by her maiden name, Kelly Buer, was a softball player at UD.
From the time he was a toddler, Drew came to many UD football games and basketball games because his family had season tickets.
“We are Flyers through and through,” Brad said.
That was especially evident with Drew and his dad when it came to Welcome Stadium where they’ve shared a father-and-son bond like few others.
“When he was younger, at halftime we’d go to the back of the end zone, behind the goal post, and because he was always a quarterback, I’d run routes for him, and he’d throw passes to me,” Brad said.
After Saturday’s victory – UD’s first over a ranked opponent in six years – Drew stood on the edge of the field and remembered those times long past:
“Before the game I’d stand behind the goal post and when the kickers were practicing their kicks, I’d catch them and throw the balls back to them. During the game my dad and I would find a spot on the edge of the track and throw the ball back and forth.
“And sometimes, they gave us sideline passes so we could watch the game on the field.”
“When I think about it now, I realize I have a ton of good memories here.”
Here’s an excerpt from that third-grade paper that he wrote with wondrous eyes (and not much spell check.) His mom saved it, and his dad sent it to me Saturday night:
“My dad went to collage (sic) at Dayton University (a.k.a. the flyers,) Aparently it’s not the biggest collage in the world, but it is still pretty awesome.
“Everybody of the team is about 5 feet taller than me. It makes me feel like an ant at half time.”
He said a lot of the players were his heroes and he dreamed of one day playing for the Flyers.
Now he does and at 6-foot-5, few players tower over him. And things were “pretty awesome” again Saturday as he added some more good memories from Welcome Stadium.
‘A really big win’
As a redshirt freshman last season, he started all 11 of the Flyers’ games in what ended as a 6-5 campaign. He started four games the year before.
This past offseason the Flyers added Schondelmyer, the former prep standout at Arcanum High and then Springfield High. He had gone on to Youngtown State, but redshirted his first season and saw no action last year.
He entered the transfer portal and chose Dayton, where his dad had been an assistant coach on Rick Chamberlin’s staff.
Schondelmyer won the Flyers starting job this season and through the first 5 ½ games had thrown for 1,412 yards and 16 touchdowns without an interception.
He was hurt near the end of the first half in last Saturday’s loss to Butler. It appeared to be his collarbone or shoulder, though UD has remained tight-lipped on his injury and prognosis.
After Saturday’s game Flyers coach Trevor Andrews finally admitted:
“I don’t anticipate him coming back this year.”
VanVleet said Schondelmyer had gone back home for part of last week and had been in the hospital, but didn’t expound any more than that.
“He was doing a great job; I hate to see this happen,” VanVleet said last week. “You don’t want to get in because somebody else went down, but now I just have to try to lead the team as best I can.”
VanVleet did a good job of that Saturday, completing 10 of 12 passes for 104 yards. Along with some crucial third down conversions, he pinpointed a pass just over a Blue Hose defender and into the numbers of UD wide receiver Ethan Thulin, who muscled into the end zone for a 31-yard touchdown reception.
The star of the day for the Flyers though was Gavin Lochow, usually a receiver, but Saturday he spent considerable time at quarterback, which then moved VanVleet out to receiver.
A record-setting quarterback at Huntington High in West Virginia, Lochow ran 17 times for 133 yards and two touchdowns, including a 79-yard scoring burst on the Flyers second possession of the game.
Lochow also caught five VanVleet passes for 41 yards.
The Flyers defense turned Presbyterian quarterback Collin Hurst’s day – after he threw a 75-yard TD pass on the second play of the game – into a nightmare.
Josh Williams, Mac Grant III and Vincent Firenze all intercepted him, with Firenze getting a 20-yard pick six midway through the third quarter.
Presbyterian came into the game 7-0 and had won 11 straight going back to mid-October last year. The Blue Hose had beaten the Flyers in their last two meetings.
They were rated No. 16 in the coaches’ poll and No. 19 in the FCS rankings. The last time UD beat a ranked opponent was the 2019 season opener at No. 14 Indiana State.
“We just had a party in the locker room,” a grinning VanVleet said afterward. “We feel great. This is a really big win for us.”
Living the dream
For VanVleet, this story may never have come were it not for Finite Math.
“Kelly and I met at study table,” Brad said. “We were both freshmen athletes and we had our first class together: Finite Math.
“At the study table she had a tutor, so I scooted over next to her. I figured I could get two for one here: A pretty girl and a tutor.”
They were boyfriend and girlfriend throughout college.
Today they are the parents of two college athletes.
Their daughter Bryn is a freshman volleyball player at Cleveland State.
When Trevor Andrews was a senior on the UD team, Brad VanVleet was a freshman.
Andrews came to the family’s Richmond home to recruit Drew. Although the UD offer was a dream come true, it came with some added pressure.
“Drew was under the microscope since he set foot on campus,” Andrews said Saturday. “He had a lot of expectations; that’s a lot to put on a young man.”
He threw for 18 touchdowns last season and had 10 interceptions.
When Schondelmyer edged him out for the starting job this season, VanVleet said he had to regroup quickly and in positive fashion:
“I had to swallow my pride a little bit, but now I realize that might be a good thing. I had to look at the bigger picture and realize what was good for the team.”
Andrews said it was good for him: “Maybe it didn’t feel like it at the time, but maybe it was the best thing to happen to him. He was able to take a backseat for a little bit and see things differently. And he handled it like a pro”.
VanVleet said he and Schondelmyer became good friends and that helped:
“Bryce does a lot of things really, really well and I learned a lot from him.
“And in the process it kind of took a little bit of the weight off my shoulders. It allowed me to relax and I’m having a little bit more fun playing football now.”
After the game, he came over to the clamoring fans leaning over the grandstand railing and posed for selfies with them and then, after the brief celebration in the postgame dressing room, he joined his parents and friends outside.
“Sometimes we have to pinch ourselves now,” Brad said. “When we think about the past and what’s happening now, it’s just a pretty cool experience all the way around.”
That’s underscored by another excerpt from Drew’s third grade paper.
“It’s hard to catch when the quarterback thoughs (sic) to me, he throws like 70 miles per hour. and then there wide receivers steps up and catches every one witch is just plane imbarising.
“Oh ya and I forgot to tell you about the high fives. I mean I asked for a high five not a hand beat down, It’s like a rock being thrown at my hand, dispite the fact that my hand is numb the whole game, going to the dayton football games is still super fun.”
All these years later it still is for VanVleet.
“Sometimes it all seems kind of surreal,” he said. “I remember all the fun I had out here when I was little and now, here I am on the same field doing it for real.
“I’m living the dream right now.”
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