Sept. 17, 2009
Both were stars in high school, but neither was offered a college scholarship. Both walked on after landing in Evanston, but neither escaped the long shadow of anonymity before this season began. Both are already enrolled in graduate school, but not until last Monday did they learn their efforts had been rewarded and they would spend their final year in school on scholarship. Zeke Markshausen and Kevin Frymire, now part of the 'Cats' wide receiver rotation, discuss their long journey with NUsports.com special contributor Skip Myslenski. . .
On The Record...With Zeke Markshausen and Kevin Frymire
Zeke: For me, it was never, "Why do I keep doing this?" It was, "Why wouldn't I?"
Fry: For me it was just the love of the guys on the team and what Northwestern's all about. It's like a big family. But it was worth every second of it. The friendships I've made. It's a family here.
Zeke: I'd have to say the same thing and, for me, I just love football. People always ask you what's your favorite sport when you're growing up. For me, it was football. I just get an enjoyment catching footballs, scoring touchdowns. You can't have that excitement, that adrenalin rush anywhere else.
Zeke: I don't want to use the term "adrenalin junkie." But I get jacked up catching footballs and scoring touchdowns. That jacks me up.
Fry: Both of us are real competitive guys and really want to win and so is this team. So it's an addiction to playing football and wanting to win.
Fry: In high school, we weren't really a winning program and it killed me. I love to win. The competitive drive is part of it, just always wanting to compete, and playing next to your brothers. The friendships you make, it's just a special feeling.
Zeke: I always found in football what I didn't find in any other sport in high school. When I get out on the field and start playing, the sidelines disappear and I don't hear anything, I don't worry about anything, I don't think about anything else. All I think about is the next guy who's going to try and stop me, or where's the ball coming from, or how can I catch it.
Zeke: It's a free feeling. That's what I was talking about with the high, the ecstasy I get just from playing. It just frees me. I really enjoy it. That's what drives me.
Fry: At first it was humbling. You come in, you expect so much, then you see that this is a whole 'nother level. There're a lot of good athletes here. But as soon as you're acclimated as a freshman, it's working everyday, trying to improve.
Zeke: Anybody coming in from high school to college, they're going to see a jump in talent level and speed. So you get caught with that right away. But, for me, coaches having confidence in you even though you're a walk-on, coaches saying, "Hey, we have just as much confidence in you as the next guy," that gives you the boost that you can do it.
Fry: I don't think our egos suffered. We were both real confident in our abilities. We knew what we were capable of. We had our dreams, our goals and we always worked toward them.
Zeke: So what? Who cares where I came from, who cares what I did?
I'm going to do it.
Zeke: That's the attitude we both had. It doesn't matter who we were, what our background was, if we were Five-Star (recruits) or no star. We came in here and we're going to do it.
Fry: Before this year, one. Eastern Michigan a couple years back I caught one pass.
Zeke: I had one also. First game, last year.
Fry: As far as the scholarship, I never thought about it. I was always more focused on playing receiver, getting better at receiver, what I could do to help the team win, all the little things, just loving the game, playing the game. It's an extra bonus. I'm so honored. It's great. But it was never something I was thinking about all the time. It's something I'm glad I got. But it was more about playing receiver and winning and playing with friends.
Zeke: I would echo that. If you get focused on that, you're not playing real well. It would be like some other player focusing on his girl friend in the stands or something like that. If you're thinking about something else, you're not going to perform very well.
Zeke: You realize it's not important. Me worrying about or Fry worrying about getting a scholarship isn't going to help me get off a press and go score a touchdown. That's not going to do anything for me. I think we realized that and it freed you up. It allowed you to go play free.
Fry: We both learned that early here. Worry about the things you can control. Getting a scholarship wasn't anything we controlled.
Fry: I'm very fortunate. My family, I was able to save up enough money. I was very fortunate, lucky, that they could pay for my four years of college. I can't be thankful enough to them.
Zeke: My parents said to me, "We're not going to limit you to where you can go. You can go anywhere you want." They honored that.
Fry: I was a little surprised. It was about half-an-hour before the meeting where (head coach Pat Fitzgerald) actually told the players. He pulled me aside. He was like, "Fry, come over here."
Fry: At first, I thought I was in trouble.
Fry: He started telling me what good work I'd put in over the past years and how he can't thank me enough for what I've done for the program and that he was going to offer me a scholarship. I'm so thankful. It's just an honor.
Zeke: Same way. He took me aside, let me know about it and I was jacked. I shook his hand, said thank you for the opportunity to prove what I could do and help the program.
Fry: My parents were excited, very excited. They said I deserved it. They knew I'd put in hard work and deserved it. But they were definitely thrilled not to have to pay this last year.
Zeke: I was more excited for them when I heard I was going to get a scholarship because they had sacrificed a lot for me to come here. I was pumped to get to tell them they could stop signing checks.
Zeke: I invited my mom and dad down for dinner and I told them. My mom cried and all that good stuff. It was good though. They echoed the same thing Fry said. They said they were proud of me, you earned it, but the sky's the limit. It's not the last step.
Fry: Just do what I can to help this team win a Big Ten championship, go 1-0 every week.
Fry: The scholarship was never the end goal. It was something I always wanted. But it's not, now that I've received a scholarship I've achieved everything. It isn't like that at all. It's about playing football. It's nice. But it's in your rearview mirror now. Now it's time to just keep playing football.
Zeke: I talked to a couple guys on the team who are in (the) situation (I was in) a couple years ago. I just told them that you've got to trust in yourself. You can go through years without people saying, "Hey, you can do this" or "Hey, you're doing well" or building your confidence like they build someone else who's on scholarship. So you've got to have a strong will about you.
Zeke: You've got to have an inner fire, something that's going to take you beyond. For me, I found that in God. I play for Him everyday. From here on, for me, it's realizing, hey, I've got an opportunity, God's blessed me with the opportunity to start, so I'm going to go out there and use my talents and use my abilities to honor him.
Fry: