Sports
Chicago State University Gears Up for First-Ever Football Game
Chicago State University is days away from playing its first-ever football game.
For some of the players taking the field, the historic moment is also a chance to represent the city they call home.
“I want to thank Coach Rome for bringing an opportunity to my hometown and giving me a chance to play football at the collegiate level in the city I grew up in,” said Arshawn Powell, a wide receiver for the Cougars.
Powell, who wears No. 7, is a graduate of Evergreen Park Community High School and is part of Chicago State’s inaugural football team. For him, the new program is about more than simply playing football.
“It gives people something to watch,” Powell said. “Like, every other state has got big football teams. We are trying to be the next big football team in Chicago.”
The Cougars are bringing together players from across the country, including Tre’ Hartwell, a Western Michigan University transfer who has a family connection to Chicago through his great-grandmother.
“I won a MAC championship at Western Michigan University and I’m trying to bring that winning culture here as well,” Hartwell said. “All this coaching staff, they have a winning culture, the players here have a winning culture, and I just want to be a part of that journey.”
Head coach Bobby Rome II has spent the past year building the program from the ground up — hiring coaching staff, recruiting players and establishing a new football culture at Chicago State. That includes bringing Chicago talent back home: Offensive line coach Arthur Ray Jr. is a Chicago native from Roseland.
“Being able to pour back into people who came from where I came from, being right over the bridge in Roseland, this is special,” Ray said.
Building a new Division I football program has come with challenges. The Cougars do not have a dedicated football field on campus, and the team will play home games at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview.
Now, the focus is turning to the first game.
“Everybody came here from different backgrounds,” player Marlon Ayers Jr. said. “We’ve got people from out of state, out of country, we all have the same goal. Everybody’s trying to get better. Everybody’s trying to be better than they were yesterday. So that’s the mindset.”
For Chicago State, the first game will be about more than football. The university is hoping the new program can help build a new sports identity on Chicago’s South Side.
“Chicago is a sports city,” Rome said, “and we are building the next great sports platform of a Division I university right on the South Side. We truly are Chicago’s own Division I team.”
Chicago State will play its first football game Saturday against Roosevelt University at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview.
