Senior football player and MBA student Trevor Marrongelli
will play in the 2013 National Football League Players Association Collegiate
Bowl on Saturday. The starting center for the Jayhawks accepted the invitation
to play in the all-star game which includes a week of events leading up to the
game. It will be played at California State University Dominguez Hills in
Carson, Calif.
Marrongelli is one of five Jayhawks chosen to play in the
postseason game. Dayne Crist, a quarterback from Canoga Park, Calif.; Toben
Opurum, a linebacker from Richardson, Texas; Josh Williams, a defensive end
from Stafford, Texas; and Duane Zlatnik, an offensive lineman from Rossville, Kan.
join Marrongelli in representing the University of Kansas.
“This game means a lot to me because it is giving me the
opportunity to meet many great players who played for great teams across the
country,” Marrongelli said.
Marrongelli started the last 24 games, giving him a total of
30 career starts for KU. He was named to the Academic All-Big 12 First Team
four times and the CoSIDA Academic All-District First Team twice. He earned his
bachelor’s degree in finance and is currently finishing his Master of Business
Administration degree and working as a graduate teaching assistant for School
of Business lecturer, Lisa Bergeron.
“He goes above and beyond in every aspect of his life,” said
Bergeron.
The NFLPA Collegiate Bowl is proof of that because it
recruits the country’s best draft-eligible seniors to play. Marrongelli will
play alongside teammates Opurum and Crist on the National team, coached by
former Kansas City Chiefs head coach Dick Vermeil. They will play against the
American team and teammates Williams and Zlatnik. The American team is coached
by another former Chiefs head coach, Herm Edwards.
“I hope to learn a lot from my mentors about the things that
come with being an NFL player as well as growing as a player and a man,”
Marrongelli said. “Being exposed to a whole new group of guys and bonding with
them was something that was very fun this week because you got the feeling of
being a team again. As for the game, I look forward to beating the other team.”
Marrongelli said this game gives him great exposure to NFL
scouts and former NFL players. He is entering the NFL draft this year and said
if he’s lucky enough to have the opportunity he will play at the professional
level.
“The former players,” he said, “have helped identify things
that we need to do in order to make it in the NFL and last as a player.”
The college all-stars listened to speeches from former NFL
stars like Kansas City running back Priest Holmes. But spending the week in Los
Angeles comes with other perks as well.
“We got to go to a comedy show at the Laugh Factory, which
was very exciting for me and the rest of the players,” Marrongelli said. “I
think the game will be the most exciting, though, because it gives me another
opportunity to play the sport I love.”
Two practices, one at 12:30 p.m. and one at 3:30 p.m. on
Thursday, will be televised on ESPNU and the game will be aired Saturday at 5
p.m. on ESPN2. This is the first time the game will be aired by ESPN.
