Perseverance: The Journey that Brought Steele Roring to Pitt State Football
PITTSBURG, Kan. – Steele Roring’s journey is anything but ordinary. From Utah Valley University, to Mesa Community College, to Butte Community College, to Nevada, and then finally to Pitt State, the 6’5″ tight end has played everywhere.
However, for Roring, football wasn’t originally part of his plan.
“Out of high school, I didn’t know for sure if I was gonna play football or not,” Roring said.
“I wanted to be a firefighter or paramedic at Utah Valley University.”
Despite his desire to join the medical field, Roring’s love for the game brought him to JUCO football. Getting his opportunity, Roring would spend the next few years chasing the division one dream. A dream, due to a small snag on his UVU transcript, that would be crushed.
“I withdrew late from a class, so it wasn’t a letter grade, it was just a W on my transcript,” Roring said.
“Even though the class is just a “W”, it still counts against you.”
The 12 credits made Roring a fulltime student, starting his D-1 clock. NCAA rules say the D-1 clock starts immediately upon fulltime enrollment, but the D-2 clock gives students 10 fulltime semesters, saying they “do not use a term if they aren’t enrolled or attending part-time without competing.”
Petitioning the transcript, Roring was able to get the “W” removed, and would eventually make it to division one Nevada, but the “fulltime status” years prior would still deem him ineligible. Carissa Cessna, assistant AD for compliance at Missouri Southern, said it’s always important for athletes to ask questions.
“Ask questions, and go into your compliance office,” Cessna said.
“If you’re at a D-1 school, find out what you need to do to keep your eligibility, it’s the same situation if your a D-2 athlete as well.”
When one door closed for Roring, however, another one opened. Joining Pitt State in 2022, Roring would become part of something special.
“Everyone at Pitt State wanted to be a winner from top to bottom,” said Roring.
“The coaches were nice to me, but the coaches also wanted to win as bad as I did. I wanted to go to a place that was hungry for a championship, and that wanted to do something special. Looking back at all of it, I definitely picked the right place.”
