that is some really cool inside info in Syd’Quan as a person. thank you for sharing.

would love to know your role working with SQ and the other players (i’m thinking some kind of academic support) but i’d happily settle for you sharing more stories.

go BEARS!

Hard working, polite, and devoted to his family. He could have left last year, but he came back. Sure — part of that was thinking he could improve his standing in the draft, but he also came back because he wanted his daughter to know that he was a student as well as an athlete. He spent the spring and the summer taking difficult required classes instead of just easy courses. In the summer, each day he had 3 hours of class time. And then each night he had studying to do. When the midterms for those two summer classes came, Syd wasn’t lucky. One midterm was on Wednesday and the other on the immediately following Thursday and he did very well on both. He easily passed both classes. He put in the work necessary and he did his own work.

Syd doesn’t expect much or ask for much. He let me know he liked a certain type of candy one day — just an offhanded comment, and since I keep a candy bowl in my office, I made sure to stock it with Syd’s favorite. When he noticed what was in the bowl, and how I must’ve remembered his comment, he just beamed. A small thing like me making the gesture to stock his favorite candy made him beam. It takes a lot to get Syd to smile, but when he does, it’s a real good smile.