North Park University's small-town feel, big-city life, a combo that appeals to Trojans football player Cole Richards

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

Chesterton senior Cole Richards took an active role in finding a college that would fit him academically and enable him to continue his football career.
He landed on North Park University, where he intends to study sports management and play football.
It all started with promotional literature from the NCAA Division III school located on Chicago’s north side.
“I got a package in the mail and it was from North Park,” said Richards, a starting safety for the Trojans his senior year. “I looked through it and saw they had a football team, and it was in Chicago, close, so I looked up the contact for the head coach (Kyle Rooker), texted him, got down there for a visit, fell in love with the place. Loved the people, loved where it was at, how close it was to home, all the opportunity for my major.”
He said he will prepare his body in a way that will enable him to play nickel back, safety or outside linebacker for the, ahem, Vikings.
“I’m going from a Trojan to a Viking,” Richards said with an almost apologetic expression. “We don’t really like Vikings around here, but now I’m a Viking.”
Whatever he ends up playing for the defense, he hopes to get on the field as a special teams player.
“Heck yeah,” he said. “I didn’t really like kickoff return too much, but I did my job on kickoff return. Kickoff, where you’re just running full speed at somebody, looking to take their head off, is all I really thought about.”
Richards had a shoulder injury and some others, but he said his work in the weight room has helped him to overcome them.
“I’m getting up to size to be able to play outside linebacker, but I’m also staying up to speed and keeping my agility so that they can use me at three different spots,” he said.
North Park’s internship program impressed him.
“They have tons of internships where you can work for professional teams such as Blackhawks, Bulls, a lot of opportunity for me to succeed and go somewhere further in life,” he said. “It’s a small-school feel with a big-city life. That’s what I like about it.”