No matter who he talked with or which campus he visited, Clinton-Massie’s Trey Uetrecht kept coming back to Ball State University.
Uetrecht signed to play football at Ball State last week, realizing his childhood dream.
“Ever since I was a little kid, I had aspirations to play Division I football,” said Uetrecht, a senior at CMHS.
Ball State, located in Muncie, Ind., is a member of the Mid-American Conference along with Akron, Ohio, Buffalo, Miami, Bowling Green, Kent State, Toledo, Central Michigan, Northern Illinois, Western Michigan and Eastern Michigan.
Uetrecht visited Ball State during his junior year. He toured campus and even took part in a football camp at BSU.
“I performed really well at the camp,” said Uetrecht, who just wrapped up his basketball season. “They called me after the game.”
On his official visit to Ball State, during the early portion of the 2017-18 basketball season, he was able to learn more about the coaches and players.
“I don’t know how to describe it,” he said. “It just felt like home. Once I got on campus, I could see myself living there the next four years.”
But he wasn’t really to push all his chips into the Cardinals’ basket, so to speak.
“I have to see other places and maybe I’ll do this with all the other ones,” he said.
He never did.
“I just fell in love with Ball State,” said Uetrecht, a two-time first-team All-Ohio defensive player for Clinton-Massie.
Uetrecht said he had interest in, visits to or interest from such schools as Kentucky, Cincinnati, Dayton, Butler, Ohio, Cornell, Colgate, Ashland and Findlay.
“Even as I went to see other places, I kept coming back to Ball State,” he said. “The coaches there remind me of the coaches here (at Clinton-Massie). Couple of them are like father figures. I could go to them if I needed anything.
“It wasn’t all about football. The main goal was winning, it’s their job. But it wasn’t all about winning or losing. The mentality the coaches had, they could make me a better man. The coaches could get me to where I need to be (in life), not including football.”
Uetrecht plans to major in Business Marketing, with the idea of returning to the family’s 1,500-acre farm.
“I have two passions … football and farming,” he said. “I have the whole farm to come back to, come back to the farm and help my dad and my brother.”
One thing Uetrecht will never have a passion for is the recruiting process.
“I had just a lot of sleepless nights, of going to bed not knowing where I was going” he said. “You think one door would open and your eyes light up, then it shuts.
“But through faith and a lot of prayer I was able to get through all that. Family (father Dan, mother Jodi, brother Tyler, sister Kasey) and faith is pretty much what got me through this situation. I’m happy to be a Cardinal.”
