Sometimes, a person’s first choice isn’t the best choice.

That was the case when it came to picking colleges for Batavia graduate Shane Holl and Marmion alum Joe Weber. After starting out at different institutions, the two found a home at Augustana College in Rock Island, earning starting defensive positions on the football team.
Holl thought his football career was over when he left Batavia in 2008 and enrolled at Illinois State. But his stay in Normal lasted only one semester.

“My dorm room was right next to the football field at ISU,” he recalls. “Every day I had to walk by and see practice. I just got that itch to play.”