Ball State linebacker Clayton Coll keeps his eye on the ball during a game last season.
Submitted photo
Having played football most his life, Clayton Coll values a forgiving landing spot.
Now more than ever.
Coll, the former Franklin linebacker and unquestioned leader of the Ball State football team, sustained a potential season-ending lower left leg injury late in the second quarter of the Cardinals’ 44-14 loss at Kentucky on Sept. 2.
“I was just chasing a guy down on the sidelines, and the guy cut back,” said Coll, a fifth-year linebacker who entered the season opener with 255 career tackles, including a team-high 110 in 2022. “As I was making the tackle, my cleat got stuck in the turf.”
Coll’s momentum while making the play turned his body a specific direction. Unfortunately, his left cleat remained stationary on the brand new turf field inside the Wildcats’ home venue, 58,000-seat Commonwealth Stadium.
It was the first game played on the surface.
“You feel for him, and it kind of tears you up,” said Franklin football coach Chris Coll, Clayton’s father, who was in Lexington to watch the game along with other family members. “Anybody who knows him, they know what kind of sacrifice and commitment he puts into it. It’s kind of gut-wrenching.”
As a result, Clayton Coll, who prior to being hurt was projected by some scouting services as a middle- to late-round selection in the 2024 NFL draft, finds himself at one of life’s many crossroads.
One direction would be for Coll, who turns 23 on Sept. 26, to exhaust his medical redshirt and attain a sixth year of athletic eligibility. That could put him on the field in time for the 2024 opener against Army next August should his rehabilitation process go as planned.
Another would be to get on with the rest of his life.
Whichever he decides, Coll — who married his high school sweetheart, former Grizzly Cub swimmer Ali Terrell, on May 10, 2022 — has positioned himself for success.
Coll graduated with a B.S. in biology and pre-med, and he is currently pursuing a business degree in Ball State’s graduate program. His goal is to one day become an orthopedic surgeon.
Ali Coll is also in the medical field and extremely driven. Her degree from Ball State is in biology and psychological sciences. Ali Coll is in the Masters of Physician Assistant Studies program at Trine University in Fort Wayne; she’ll complete in December. After that, she’ll attain a year of clinical experience in her hometown of Franklin.
The couple knows a greater sense of marital normalcy will eventually kick in at some point.
“It’s definitely not been easy, that’s for sure,” Ali said prior to her husband’s injury. “At this point, we kind of have it down where we can see each other a few days a week.
“Looking back on the last year, I think it’s made us more appreciative of some of the little things couples do.”
A coach on the field
Chris Coll sensed early that that the youngest of he and his wife Deena’s three sons possessed a unique maturity.
Back when Chris was leading the football program at Tri-West, his alma mater, from 2006-16, Clayton ranged in age from 5 to 16.
While members of the Bruins’ coaching staff met at the school on Sunday mornings after a game, the young children of Chris Coll’s assistant coaches were finding things to do.
Most of them, anyway.
Sure, getting the opportunity to hang out with his old man at work was cool. But there was more.
“The thing that sticks out with me is that dude was in the meeting rooms with the coaches instead of running around the halls,” Chris Coll said. “Clayton’s football IQ has always been off the charts. It’s something that just stuck with him. He liked it, and it came natural to him.”
Former Bruins assistant coach Rodney Farmer has fond recollections of those days.
“Chris was our offensive coordinator in the early 2000s, and I remember Clayton from the time he was 3 or 4,” Farmer said. “As he got older, he was always in the film room. He just had a passion for the game.
“Clayton was very unique. As he got older and started playing for us — Clayton was a safety then, and every scenario that would happen, he wanted to know why. He came in as a freshman and was a leader on the team. He called people out.”
Some great times already
At 6-foot-3 and 235 pounds, Clayton Coll is a combination of smarts and unquestioned physicality.
Early in his college career, he played a role in Ball State going 7-1 and winning the Mid-American Conference title in a pandemic-abbreviated 2020 season. The Cardinals beat San Jose State, 34-13, in the Offerpad Arizona Bowl.
“Honestly, it’s just a blessing. I’ve been able to experience and see so much,” Clayton said. “I would say winning the MAC championship was a highlight, and then I got engaged a couple of weeks after the bowl game.”
Coll’s football credentials, his marketability and the respect he has in the community and on campus might have seemed like the perfect ticket out of town in this era of name, image and likeness (NIL) and the transfer portal.
Then again, there’s also the satisfaction gained by finishing what one starts.
“There’s always curiosity, but I never really gave it a thought,” Coll said. “I’ve made so many unbelievable friends here, and I knew I had unfinished business here with this team and with this university.”
Maybe, just maybe, he still does.
Playing the waiting game
Coll underwent surgery on his ankle on Sept. 8, which left him in a walking boot and requiring the use of crutches to get around. He’s going through the rehabilitation process, and is quick to credit his wife for her support and for transporting him from one place to another.
Of those places, the large structure on Tillotson Avenue in Muncie is at the top of the list.
Part of Coll’s healing is returning to be around his teammates and coaches at Scheumann Stadium. The linebacker isn’t able to help on the field, but he’s prepared to continue mentoring those younger defensive players around him.
“I think I have a lot of options, but most important to me is getting my ankle healthy and just being a good teammate,” Coll said. “Once I get out of this phase, I’m hoping to get back to practice.
“Getting back to the stadium, it brings a new energy to you. My teammates, they always keep me smiling, keep me laughing.”
As for whether or not he’s played his last football game, Coll is in no hurry to make such a decision. Nor does he have to.
Marriage, school, rehab and more have left him with no shortage of options when it comes to filling his days. Eventually, though, the light bulb will go off.
“Really, I’m just trying to get healthy,” Coll said. “Get the pain away before I start thinking about the future.”
