Schuckman: Leathernecks continue showing just how much loyalty matters

MACOMB, Ill. — In the seven months since Joe Davis became the Western Illinois University football coach, one thing above all else has become abundantly clear to him and everyone around him.

Loyalty matters.

To his players. To the football alumni. To WIU fans in general.

Davis and his staff have embraced that and used it as one of the driving forces throughout the spring and summer in preparing the Leathernecks for what they hope will be a cornerstone season in the program’s rebirth.

“It was a big priority for us as a staff and as a team to just continually reconnect with alumni and let those guys know that they’re Leathernecks for life,” Davis said while speaking Wednesday during the Big South-Ohio Valley Conference Virtual Media Day. “And to be able to transcend that to our current team and let them know how many people care about them and how many people are interested in seeing them succeed.”

It’s another reason so many Leathernecks chose to stay.

The WIU administration made a decision at the end of last season to part ways with Myers Hendrickson, a former WIU student-athlete who struggled as the program’s head coach. WIU went winless during the 2022 and 2023 seasons and carries a 24-game losing streak with it this fall.

Yet, a vast number of the upperclassmen chose not to jump into the transfer portal and give the new coaching staff a base to build from.

Why did they stick around? Loyalty matters.

“I’m a loyal person,” senior linebacker Juan DelaCruz said. “At the end of the day, I don’t like turning my back on a program that helped me for four years.”

Senior quarterback Nate Lamb echoed DelaCruz’s sentiment in a very succinct way.

“This is where I wanted to be,” Lamb said.

He’s not alone in wanting that. Davis and his staff have been able to build a 115-player roster by bringing in an abundance of new faces — there will be around 65 first-year Leathernecks when camp opens — because players see his vision and want to be at WIU.

The old-school football coach in Davis doesn’t particularly like having such a major roster overhaul, but he also understands the game and the way it’s played in the offseason has changed because of the transfer portal and other factors.

“As you talk to coaches throughout the country, a lot of programs would say that’s beginning to be the norm,” Davis said.

So is the year-round dedication, as evidenced by the number of players who have made Macomb their summer home and stayed committed to the program beyond the spring practice window.

It’s given the Leathernecks the opportunity to bond regardless of age or experience.

“They have the mentality to put their head down and get to work,” DelaCruz said of the newcomers.

That’s all anyone wants. Davis believes the effort put into recruiting players who fit the mold he likes to coach as well as their weight room commitment will make WIU more competitive immediately when it comes to physical size and strength.

“Philosophically, it’s just always been a part of my fabric to have a very big team, just when it comes to physical size on the offensive and defensive lines,” Davis said. “We have to get bigger. We have to get more length on the team. So that’s been a focus, especially with the transfer portal and junior college recruiting.”

It’s paying off.

“I’m probably as excited about our offensive line as I have been maybe in the last five or six years with any team I’ve coached, and that has to be from the physical development that’s happened in the weight and also with what we’ve recruited here thus far,” Davis said.

Now is the time to put it to work.

Training camp is less than three weeks away and the season opener at Northern Illinois is a little more than six weeks away. It can’t get here soon enough. 

“It’s football time now,” Davis said. “As a football coach at my core, I’m ready to start coaching and get on the grass and watch our team from a football standpoint, see how far we’ve come since spring football and this summer.”

One thing should be obvious. The Leathernecks have made significant strides because they’ve proven they are in this together.

That’s all because loyalty matters.