The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Football pulls JCU’s Bates, Trubisky back in
Walking away from things such as a job, a location, a situation can be difficult.
Walking away from a sport, especially from a competitive sense, can be just as difficult.
Joey Bates and Manning Trubisky tried to do that, but it didn’t stick. Fortunately for them, they have found an avenue back into football.
Bates and Trubisky have known each other for years through mutual friends, and now their landing spot back into the sport might keep them connected well into their latter years.
They are proof walking away from football is not easy.
Bates, a Kirtland graduate, and Trubisky of Mentor thought they had hung up their cleats for good at the start of the 2017 school year. Bates was at Ohio State, and Trubisky at Ohio University. They were regular students.
But that college life without the word “athlete” attached to them left something missing. Today, the pair are at John Carroll playing for Coach Rick Finotti’s Blue Streaks with big smiles.
Both are closer to their family’s Lake County homes in the literal sense, but in another closer to the place they’ve called home for some time — the football field.
When they walked away from the gridiron, it wasn’t the right time for either.
Bates arrived at JCU in 2016 after helping Kirtland to a 2015 state championship as a standout running back (he owns the school’s single-season mark with 1,933 rushing yards) and linebacker, but missed most of his college freshman season recovering from a concussion. It was a frustrating time for Bates, who decided it was time to call it a football career. Compounding that frustration was deciding to play college football in the first place. He was dealing with nagging ankle injuries after finishing his high school career, and nearly walked away then.
Bates then transferred to Ohio State in the fall of 2017, but he soon realized walking away from football left too big a void. That left him wondering if his teammates, the ones he had walked away from a few months earlier, would welcome him back.
“(Defensive lineman) Tyler Frederick, and (Kirtland grad) Sam (Kukura) were the first guys I called,” said Bates after a recent JCU practice. “I called a bunch of other guys too — (Lake Catholic grad) Chad (Stalnaker), (receiver) Kody Kidd ... It felt different at first coming back, but these guys welcomed me back with open arms. I kind of felt like a scumbag when I left them, but it’s just great to be back.”
To set his return in motion, he needed the OK from Finotti. It was a call the JCU coach remembers well.
“I see on my phone, ‘Joe Bates.’ I’m thinking, ‘That’s weird,’ ” said Finotti. “He says, ‘Coach I’d like a chance to earn a spot back on the team.’ With Joe, he always had an outstanding place on the team. It was an easy yes. He’s epitomizes what we’re trying to get here.”
Bates transferred back to JCU last winter after one semester at OSU. He was switched to safety — a position he’s never played — during spring drills last April, and has been practicing with the first team during training camp. He and Chardon grad Mike Connick are expected to be the starting safeties when JCU opens its season Sept. 1 at Wisconsin Stevens-Point.
His return to football has helped in another sense: “My grades were actually worse at OSU not being on a tight schedule,” joked Bates, who said he might have four years of eligibility remaining because of his injury-riddled 2016 season.
Trubisky’s decision to return to football started after his first semester at Ohio. By early 2018, he was committed to the idea, and there was only one potential landing spot.
After his senior season at Mentor, where the 6-foot-3 wide receiver had 42 catches for 702 yards and 10 touchdowns, Trubisky’s first college visit was with Finotti at JCU. He eventually decided OU was the college for him, but football never really left him.
In 2017, his younger brother Mason was a junior on Mentor’s team that finished the state runner-up in Division I. His older brother Mitchell was the No. 2 pick in the 2017 NFL Draft, and started 12 games for the Bears as a rookie.
Manning’s interest to return was helped along by Kukura, whom Trubisky crossed paths at OU one weekend.
“Sam said something really subtle like, ‘Hey, Coach Alexander’s been talking about you.’ You have to come back and play again.”
JCU QB coach Nick Alexander coached Trubisky at Mentor, and the two have a strong connection. That, plus the relationship already established with Finotti, made his decision to transfer to JCU a nobrainer.
“Once I knew I wanted to play football, I knew this was the place,” said Trubisky, who will be in the mix among JCU’s receivers this fall.
Many football players walk away with no regrets, knowing the time is right. Bates and Trubisky didn’t fall into that category, and are appreciative for their second chance. For Bates, who wants to be a college football coach after graduation, it’s especially sweet. That’s because he wasn’t anywhere near ready to walk away.
Said Bates: “I missed it like crazy. Every single day, and I learned that the hard way ... two times!”