Corley headed to play college ball in the “Magic City”

Former Polson Pirate football player Trevor Corley and his father John turned his prospective football prospects into a tour of the Midwest.

Trevor Corley, the former offensive lineman of the Polson Pirates, had several college prospects to carry on his football career including Lakeland, Wisc., Luther, Iowa, and NCAA Division II school Minot State University.

He and his father John traveled together mulling over all of Trevor’s prospects.

“The experience and getting a chance to do it over with your kid instead of sending him off to college, seeing him interact with the coaches, having him ask questions, and taking things over on his own is kind of a cool moment for a dad,” John Corley said. “The overall experience of is once in a lifetime. To what his goals were and see him achieve what he set out to do was pretty cool.”

As Trevor’s father John said, he wanted his son to make his own choice on where he would prospectively spend his college and football career.

“I just really tried to stay out of it as much as I could because it was his decision,” John Corley said. “I tried play Devil’s Advocate and not get caught up in what some of the coaches that were really trying to sell us on their schools. I was kind of the voice of reason. Over anything my biggest reason for making the trip was making sure that he was thinking through the process and not getting caught up in the moment. That is going to be the next four years of his life and I was making sure he was making the right decision on what he wants.”

After visiting several schools, it appeared that Trevor Corley had decided on Luther College, an NCAA Division III school, until the two visited Minot State University. MSU, an NCAA Division II program, was the team and school that Trevor made the decision to sign with.

Initially, MSU, under the direction of new head coach Mike Aldrich, didn’t have any scholarship money to disperse.

“Originally, Trevor contacted them for a visit,” John Corley said. “The coaches looked at his video and said ‘they would absolutely love to have him come out’ but because it was a month after National Signing Day, there wasn’t much scholarship money left. Initially, Trevor wanted to play defense and after talking to Aldrich, he said ‘I want Trevor on offense.’”

Aldrich, the new Beavers’ head football coach, said he wants to have 1,000-yard rushers and is committed to the running game.

“He wanted a thousand yard rusher every year and we are anticipating being offered a scholarship,” John Corley said. “However, I was talking to the other coaches and they told us that Trevor has earned a scholarship at MSU because of the way he carried himself throughout the entire visit. He wasn’t on the phone all of the time or anything else. That was a really cool proud dad moment.”

Scholarship or not, Trevor Corley said he was going to choose Minot State.

“I was going to choose Minot anyway because I liked the coaches and I really felt comfortable where I was going,” Trevor Corley said. “They helped me make up my mind and the experience of being at Minot State was worth more than money that they were offering.”

According to Trevor, he is set to play offensive tackle for the Beavers.

“I am not exactly sure what the head coach is planning on doing every year, but if he wants a thousand yard rusher, it is the same thing that I did for Polson when I blocked for Cole and Tanner,” Trevor Corley said.

Trevor Corley said he felt he will make the successful transition from playing football at Polson High to Minot State.

“It’s kind of a little pressure transitioning from the high school level to the college level,” Trevor Corley said. “Everyone is going to be that much better.”

Corley credited his Little Guy Football coach Tom Kenney and all of his middle school and high school coaches for helping him be able to have the opportunity to play college football.

“If you don’t have good coaches, you can lose the love for the game,” Trevor Corley said. “Some people’s sports careers get ruined by one bad coach. I can honestly say I never had one bad coach (throughout my career).”