Lori Ruhland had to fight back tears when recounting what her son Trevor has accomplished. It was not just about football, where he was an All-State selection, earned scholarship offers from several of the nation's top programs, and committed to Notre Dame, but also about the young man, the son, and the brother he is. She gave us insight into the future Fighting Irish offensive lineman here in this week's TBT feature.
What was Trevor like as a baby and as a young child?
Surprisingly, I'm always asked if he was a big baby, and he was the smallest baby. He was only seven pounds when he was born. He's been an easy going, go with the flow type guy, willing to always help out. He's a very good older child. He's the oldest. He has a brother three years younger and a sister six years younger.
When did he start playing football and how did those early days go?
He played flag in kindergarten and then started right away into tackle and played all the way through the junior Trojans league. When he started off, he was in junior Wolves because we were zoned to go to that school. Cary-Grove is a great community so he came back when he went to high school when it was re-zoned. He played football right away and always was the one who had to play up a league because of his weight and height and with his weight most of time, he couldn’t touch the ball. He had a great coach in the junior program and Trevor was one pound under the weight limit where he could carry the ball and he knew it was the last time he'd truly able to do any of that, so at halftime, they were in the lead and he put Trevor in as a quarterback and let him carry the ball and he kicked and punted too. It was a fun little half for him, but we also found out he was at his best with his hand on the ground.
When you look back on all that and now he's about to play for Notre Dame, one of the most prestigious programs in the country, how does that make you feel and what will it be like when he leaves for college?
He’s my oldest, so I'm truly having a hard time adjusting to him leaving the house. He's definitely ready and mature enough and I'm so proud of him. I think it’s easy to see his accomplishments on the field: he's a great leader, great football player, but as a parent, what makes me proud is when people say oh my God, he's such a nice guy, a good kid, and so kind to younger kids, and a great older brother. It sounds like he's perfect and by no means is he perfect, but it's more important to me the gentleman he is off the field, his grades, getting into Notre Dame...I can’t say it was a lifetime dream. Growing up in Chicago, it was either you're a Notre Dame fan or not a Notre Dame fan and Matt (Trevor's father) and I both graduated from Iowa and are both Big Ten fans, but going through the process, raising him, we always said he would be a Hawkeye if was going to play football. He was always going to be a Hawkeye. Truth be known, it was a much better opportunity for him. It's a prestigious school on so many levels, but he never got an offer from Iowa and we looked at as, Notre Dame treats its alumni better.
Part of recruiting is making Mom comfortable sending her baby off to a school. What about Notre Dame and their staff made you comfortable with that?
When we sat down for the decision process, you’re talking to a 16, 17 year old kid making a pretty big decision. Matt and I concentrated on what would 40 year old Trevor tell 16 year old Trevor. The staff at several schools were phenomenal. Minnesota was absolutely one of our favorite staffs. Northwestern was the same way. We were going to Notre Dame looking for that comfort feel. The ambassador to the students showed us around and the people we ran into...everyone was kind. That was something we didn’t see all the time. From the students to anyone we ran into, they were kind, polite, so open, and welcome to the family was the first thing most of them said and I’ve been raised that family is first, so if could put my son in that family feel, I was pretty comfortable and it's close enough for me to be there.
I take it you'll be around at all the games and in the dorm?
I don't know about the dorms. That's the one spot we haven’t seen. The word I've heard to describe them is traditional. I'm trying to negotiate a condo there with my husband so I have a place if I want to stay but right now, that's in negotiation. Matt wants an RV so we can travel that away. My middle son (Colton) is a freshman and next year he'll be a sophomore hoping to start on varsity, so we'll have Friday night games. He's putting on weight with that goal, so we'll be staying back on Fridays supporting him and my daughter (Delaney), who is a 6th grader, has been a trooper and been to all of the games. She definitely likes basketball more than football, but has been to all the basketball games. So it might have to be a divide and conquer, which will be really weird. We do an awful lot of things as a family unit, so it will be an adjustment. My parents live in Cary and Matt had a lot of siblings come to games, so my sister and my brother and his wife live in Chicago and my sister's family and brother's family, they'll all be at Trevor's games.
In about nine months, Trevor is going to be on the field in South Bend and Notre Dame will be playing Texas. When you see him run out there wearing the gold helmet for the first time, what do you expect that moment to be like?
I don’t know if I’ll cry at that point. We drop him off in June, so I think I'll get used to it. I'm not sure if he will play his first year. As an offensive lineman, they want him to play at 300 pounds, so blowing up to that size is going to be interesting, so I think, you never know though with linemen that go down, but it's overwhelming. It's going to be a very proud moment...a unique, proud moment.
