From St. Peter’s, Mo., Pierre Desir, a sophomore, has had an impressive tenure with the Washburn Ichabods football team. Having already been named All-American, he hopes to make the same impact in his second season, but even talented players have to start somewhere.

“I started [playing football] my freshman year in high school, so six, seven years,” said Desir. “What made Washburn the right school was the coaches and the players, really just the atmosphere. I liked everybody on the team, and I had a good time with the coaches, especially Coach Brown. He’s what really brought me here because I liked the mentality.”

The 6-foot-2-inch defensive back also shared some of his fondest memories during his first season as an Ichabod.

“My favorite moment is, I think, during the Northwest game when I saw Coach Schurig run down the sideline after [Steve Ivanisevic, kicker] made a kick,” said Desir. “It’s just, you know, all the camp. Ty [Lewis, senior offensive lineman] actually caught a punt went at weights the next day. Just being around the team is great for me.”

Desir also addresses the honor, responsibility and pressure of being an All-American.

“What comes with that, I got to prove it,” said Desir. “I got to live up to those expectations. Even with all those awards, I still got to come out and play and execute.

While Desir has dreams that fly as a high as a pterodactyl, his favorite dinosaur, he is also comfortable with other options that he could still make an impact with.

“Well, of course, yeah, I want to go to the NFL, but if that doesn’t work out, I want to teach,” said Desir. “I major in history. I want to teach history and, you know, coach football on the side or basketball. Those are my passions, football and basketball, but if the NFL career doesn’t work out, I’ll always have the education to back me up.”

Many of Desir’s teammates appreciate all he brings to the team.

“He’s a youngster, but he kind of stepped into the role real well,” said Lewis. “He’s always performing at a high level. He’s kind of one of those levelheaded guys who always just gets the job done. He’s real cool to be around and definitely a leader on the squad this year. We’re always joking around, but when it’s time for business, it’s good to go. There’s not too much to say about Pierre. He just does what he does.”

Just as he does with fans and teammates, Desir never fails to make an impact on the coaching staff.

“Obviously, Pierre had an outstanding year as a freshman, and he’ll have a very good year this year,” said Craig Schurig, Washburn head football coach. “He’s one of the top defensive backs in the conference. He’s a very good student athlete. He does a lot for the team on defense and special teams. He should be one of the top players on our team over the next few years. He’s a team-oriented guy, pleasure to coach, very easy to coach. Obviously, he’s an excellent athlete, but he combines that with a really good work ethic and wants to be as good as he can be, so he’s a lot of fun to coach. He gets along great with his teammates. He’s unselfish and anything you ask him to do, he’ll do, so he’s the type of student-athlete we love to have here at Washburn.”