November 29th, 2024 8:30am
By Sandy Gholston
BIG RAPIDS, Mich. -- Konnor Near couldn't hide that big smile minutes after celebrating the top-ranked Ferris State University football team returning the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship to Big Rapids for the first time since 2021.
It has been quite a journey for Near, a graduate student-athlete for the Bulldogs. The 6-foot-2, 230-pound Near was a standout linebacker on Ferris State's 2021 and 2022 NCAA Division II National Championship teams.
Near, who got the job done in the classroom and on the gridiron, graduated cum laude in May 2023 from Ferris State's College of Engineering Technology with a Bachelor of Science in Construction Management.
But Konnor still had football left in the tank and an opportunity to test himself against the best of the best. He transferred to the University of Oklahoma to play major Division I football for the Sooners, widely considered one of college football's "blue bloods," programs with a decorated history of dominance, prestige, and success.
A year removed from Big Rapids, Near felt a tug back to Ferris State, a place that was and always will be special to him. The feeling hit home as the Bulldogs secured an outright GLIAC championship with a 24-9 win over Davenport University on Nov. 16.
"It's 100 percent that this was one moment I was looking forward to experiencing with my teammates," said Konnor, a St. John's, Michigan, native who played in 12 games for the Sooners in Fall 2023 and finished with seven tackles. "It's something I've been thinking about since about May when I rolled back into Big Rapids, coming back to Ferris. I'm so happy to do this with the guys on this team."