Story by Brian Nielsen (JG-TC Sports Editor)


Rising for that next morning practice after a previous day's afternoon practice for the whatever day it was of preseason, Jeremy Rykard heard Eastern Illinois football teammates grumble.

“They say 'oh, we have practice in full pads again,” Rykard said. “At their age, I probably would have said the same thing. Now that I've been through worse things, you don't worry about it.”

Yeah, taking some bruises and sore muscles onto the practice field to endure more tackles, the wide receiver Rykard was pretty sure he was not going to be shot that day.

Or have an enemy rocket hit the wall of a building when he is inside.

At age 28, this Marine Corps veteran is about as far from your typical college football player as you can get.

“Old man, Pops – I've heard it all,” said a smiling Rykard, who is older than three of Eastern's assistant coaches.

Most other players on Eastern's current team were not even teenagers yet when terrorists attacked the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.

Rykard was a freshman at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale where classes were canceled that day and he saw recruiters signing up men to join the military in wake of the attacks.

“I thought 'man, you should be proud of yourself for what you're doing,' ” he said.

Soon he joined them.

In all honesty, he wasn't leaving behind a good situation.

Calling himself just an average football player for O'Fallon High School, he went to Southern Illinois just for school. Or maybe not even that.

“Grade wise it was no good,” Rykard said. “Lack of responsibility. Now that I'm older it's easy to balance pleasure with work.”

That's especially after four stints in Iraq as a US Marine.

“After being over there you get a new perspective on life,” Rykard said. “Being put in a position when I was defending other people's freedom is a humbling experience.”

Rykard quickly learned that unlike often times in the US when you hear a siren, in Iraq it was not just some drill.

“You never knew where that rocket was going to land,” he said. “It could land 10 feet from you. You feared for your life.

“One time there was an incoming siren, we got every one in the building and a rocket hit the building. Luckily we had been there a while so we had a building. If it had been a tent, we probably all would have died.”

Shooting practice was not just an exercise either.

“One day you're going to be shooting a rifle and it's not going to be at a target,” Rykard said. “That's the big thing when I was going to Iraq: They said 'those targets shoot back.' ”

So did they?

“A couple of times,” he said. “I really don't like talking about it. But I signed the contract knowing that could happen.”

While this veteran is probably sparing you some of the most gruesome stories, the big picture he paints is not that bad.

“The experience was all good,” he said. “Everything is not all blood and guts. I did a lot of things most people my age have never done. I tell everybody the decision to go to the military is a good one. You have good times and bad times. Just like football, every game is not going to be good.”

Football is what coaxed Rykard out of the military.

This self-proclaimed average high school player who seldom watched the game on television as a kid, started watching, learning and playing for his Marine unit's football team, obviously part of the fun.

When based in California he had progressed to the point to where he impressed San Jacinto Junior College coaches who provided the chance to play there.

Rykard took it deciding he did not want to go through life wondering if he could have played college football.

“There's a lot of people who have a goal to do it and never do,” he said. “A lot of people told me 'you'll never play, you're too small, you're too old.' I sacrificed a real good salary in the Marine Corps to play but you grow up watching Northwestern and now we're playing there.”

After his two junior college seasons Rykard was good but far from a top prospect on any recruiting list or even Eastern's first priority from San Jacinto.

“He emailed us off the coattails of Eric Varela,” EIU offensive coordinator Roy Wittke said of the offensive lineman also now with the Panthers. “I really didn't know anything about him. It was relatively late.

“It just shows you: We get a hundred emails from prospects who are interested. You follow up on all of them because you may get a player. He's a super kid.”

With tuition paid by the military, Rykard was a bargain for Eastern even before he worked his way up from No. 3 receiver in the spring to a starter who caught the first pass of the game in the Panthers' season opener against Illinois State.

“Never would have I thought I'd be starting the first game,” Rykard said. “They told me I would be playing special teams.”

A couple of injuries to others were factors, but the 5-foot-10, 166-pound junior also emerged making Eastern coaches glad they answered his email and then during the summer threw in room and board to go with Rykard's military-paid tuition.

“He wanted to walk on and what do you have to lose with a guy who can show that maturity,” wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator Mike Lynch said. “It's been tremendous. There's no question. We're going through two-a-days. They think they're tough. After what he's seen in his life, this is fun for him.”

Wittke said: “That's what's been great for our guys. They've been exposed to a young man that has done things no one else in our organization has done. He's done a good job of being a leader and communicating to our kids.”

Those communications include Rykard's thoughts on the country's answer to the 9/11 attacks and sending troops overseas.

“I don't think the mass destruction was the reason we were over there but there was a reason,” Rykard said. “I wouldn't change any of it. I've gotten to see places I would never have seen. I would have never been on a helicopter. I had a good time. The military turned me into a student. The military gave me values and goals.

“Classes are pretty easy now – an hour out of the day and two hours studying at night. School is easy.”