{"id":9793,"date":"2015-02-11T16:35:39","date_gmt":"2015-02-11T21:35:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=9793"},"modified":"2015-02-26T11:43:44","modified_gmt":"2015-02-26T16:43:44","slug":"dreams-become-reality-for-aurora-student-femi-cole","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/dreams-become-reality-for-aurora-student-femi-cole\/","title":{"rendered":"Dreams become reality for Aurora student Femi-Cole"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photo by Paul Mosey<\/em><\/p>\n

By Jake Courtepatte<\/strong><\/p>\n

For the Canadian high-school athlete, the NCAA\u2019s Division 1 (D1) can seem so far away and unachievable playing in a market often overlooked.<\/p>\n

But for St. Andrew\u2019s College\u2019s Jonathan Femi-Cole, that dream became a reality Wednesday when he signed a commitment to play football next year for the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrowing up you dream about going to a D1 school, but growing up in Canada that dream seems a lot more far-fetched,\u201d said Femi-Cole. \u201cThe fact that I am living this dream and I have been given the opportunity to play for a great program is something that I can\u2019t even put into words.\u201d<\/p>\n

The running back is expected to join around 20 players in the Gopher\u2019s 2015 recruiting class, and his numbers back up his talent. In eight games as a senior, Femi-Cole rushed for over 1,600 yards and twelve touchdowns. Scouts had him ranked as the number one running back prospect in Ontario.<\/p>\n

His physical attributes are equally as impressive \u2013 he runs the 40-yard dash in 4.5 seconds, bench presses 330 pounds and has a 40-inch vertical
\n.
\n\u201cI started lifting when I was young, I\u2019ve been around personal trainers a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Upon his arrival at SAC three years ago, coaching staff at the college knew right away the potential within the young athlete, including head football coach Len Gurr.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew he had the potential to accomplish great things,\u201d said Gurr. \u201cTo see him here three years later is a thrill for all of us. I have said it time and time again, but Jonathan is arguably the most naturally talented football player I have coached, and we have had some truly great players come through our program over the years.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was only fitting that Femi-Cole officially signed his commitment papers on campus, surrounded by friends, family, teammates, and coaching staff in the Yuill Andrean Room within the La Brier Family Arena.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will be forever grateful for the opportunities I have been given here at St. Andrew\u2019s College,\u201d said Femi-Cole. \u201cThe chance to grow academically and athletically has truly paved the way for me\u2026it truly is a special place.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the oldest programs in college football, the Golden Gophers participate in the highly-competitive Big Ten Conference, most recently coming up short in the 2015 Citrus Bowl to the Missouri Tigers.<\/p>\n

With the graduation of David Cobb, the starting tailback position is wide open for the Aurora native to work toward. He has stated that his goal is to start and make an impact as a freshman player.<\/p>\n

Schools such as Iowa State, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Colorado, and Louisville also put in bids for the running back, but his loyalty to the Gophers remained strong following a campus visit hosted by fellow Canadian and Vanier College alum Julien Kafo.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the Canadian high-school athlete, the NCAA\u2019s Division 1 (D1) can seem so far away and unachievable playing in a market often overlooked.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":9765,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/2012-02-12-10.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-2xX","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-09 19:27:16","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9793\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}