From the Trenches WIth Senior Wide Receiver Ricky Lloyd
Sep 24, 2001 | Football
Sept. 24, 2001
MANHATTAN, Kan. -
- by Erica Courtright, Kansas State Sports Information Student Assistant
Senior wide receiver Ricky Lloyd's road to Manhattan was paved with frustration. Sharp turns and tall obstacles obscured Lloyd's view and detours left him wondering where he would end up.
In high school places like Manhattan weren't even on his map.
"Even though I saw players graduate and move on to college, I didn't think I would be that one," he said. "I didn't doubt my skills. I just never really had any dreams about going to college and playing ball until my senior year, until I started getting recruiting letters and things of that sort."
Recruiting letters aside, Lloyd was missing the most important piece of paper, his ticket to the next level. A diploma.
He should have graduated from high school in May 1996, but diverted by personal issues, he didn't finish. At the next turn, he discovered he was going to be a father, and he suddenly found himself drifting without direction. Unsure of his future, Lloyd went to his grandmother seeking advice.
"She told me I had two choices," Lloyd said, "either to work or go back to school."
Lloyd chose the workforce.
He found a job in retail to support his daughter, but soon discovered that even when he took a second job, he couldn't cut it.
"After working for a year, I wasn't getting the financial support that I needed," Lloyd said. "It even came to the point to where I had to work two jobs to even make enough money to where, after paying my bills, I had enough to spend time with my family and do some things with them."
Lloyd was left with only one other option, and he enrolled at El Camino College in Torrance, Calif. in fall 1997. He joined the football team, and things seemed to begin to fall in place.
Several months later, however, things seemed to be falling apart.
"My grandparents got sick in the middle of the season," he said. "That following December my grandfather passed away, and 30 days, no, not even 30, about 26 days after that his wife, my grandma, she passed away. That was a big let down for me."
Faced with the loss, Lloyd gave up playing football at El Camino and enrolled, instead, at West Los Angeles College. He went to school that spring and joined the football squad that fall.
Playing behind two eventual division one receivers, Lloyd said the fall season didn't go well, and, as a result, he decided to run track that spring. While running the 100 meter and 200 meter races for the Oilers, Lloyd continued to workout with the football team during spring drills hoping to catch the eye of a visiting recruiter.
Arizona State, Kansas State and several division two schools were there to make him an offer. But, as was the case so many times before, another obstacle stood in Lloyd's way. Having never graduated from high school, Lloyd would have to earn his GED before he was eligible to play division one football.
Again, Lloyd's path narrowed leaving him with no other option. He took classes at West LA during the day, went to track practice in the afternoon, participated in spring football drills during the early evening and dedicated his evening to classes to earn his GED.
With his newly acquired GED, he finished his final two courses for an associate's degree from West LA that summer and narrowed his list of colleges to two.
Arizona State or Kansas State.
Having previously visited Kansas State, Lloyd saw it as a chance to broaden his perspective and interact with a different group of people. Arizona State, on the other hand, was nearer to home. He had never visited the campus, but he liked the idea of being closer to his daughter and his family.
He had a difficult decision to make. Standing at a fork in the road, he sought the highest counsel.
"I actually had said a prayer before I laid down one night about which school I was going to go to," he said. "That following night, to be honest with you, I had a dream about K-State's indoor facilities."
That made Lloyd's decision for him.
"From that moment on I knew," he said. "That next morning I signed my scholarship and sent it down this way. That next week I was on my way down here."
He arrived the day before practice started in August 1999 and redshirted that first season. He had only one reception his junior season, against Kansas, as he spent the majority of the season in the shadow of All-Americans Aaron Lockett and Quincy Morgan. Head strength coach Rod Cole said this has potential to be Lloyd's breakout season.
"He's shown perseverance," Cole said. "This year's a big year for him. He's very athletic and has a chance to really make an impact."
Lloyd said he realized the significance of his senior season.
"At this point I just want to help the team and contribute any way I can," he said. "I'm not trying to fill the shoes of Quincy Morgan or any other past great receivers they've had here. I'm just trying to come in and make a name for myself."
Regardless of what happens on the field, however, Lloyd said he intends to finish his final class this spring to earn his degree in social science. After that, he said he plans to pursue a ministry license so he can eventually return to LA and counsel kids like himself.
Whatever his future may hold, Lloyd said he is glad he had the opportunity to come to play at K-State.
"It was a blessing," he said. "That's what I'm going to count it as."
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