A.J. Hotchkins curled up on the ground of his friend’s apartment, trying to fall asleep. It was his night on the floor.
Now a linebacker for Oregon, Hotchkins was just one of the many borderline Division I athletes struggling at the junior college level for a chance at a better future.
In total, as many as nine football players from Riverside City College slept in one apartment each night. Some of his other teammates also laid on the ground around him or on the couch in the living room. Others were lucky enough to sleep on one of the few beds.
“We’d rotate,” Hotchkins said. “One night someone would get the couch, one night someone would get the floor.”
It was the second junior college Hotchkins played for in as many years. He had recently moved to Riverside after a disappointing stint at Blinn Junior College in Texas and was in the midst of what he and other junior college athletes have called “the JuCo struggle.” Money was tight and he couldn’t afford his own place, so he did what many out-of-state junior college athletes are forced to do: couch-surf.
“Looking back on it, I was just really hungry to get out of that situation,” Hotchkins said.
Hotchkins got out, but his journey to becoming an Oregon Duck was just beginning. Once his first season at Riverside was finished, he got a job at Popeyes, then AutoZone. He finally made enough money to afford his own apartment.
He was juggling a job, school and football. This is the epitome of the JuCo struggle: the challenge of trying to find a balance in a new, hectic environment, while simultaneously trying to make a name and future for oneself.
“JuCo is crazy,” said Jonah Moi, an Oregon linebacker and fellow Riverside City College transfer.
Moi and Hotchkins were teammates at Riverside. Moi’s experience was not as harrowing as Hotchkins’, but life was still not easy.
Moi grew up in Redlands, California, about 17 miles from Riverside. Commuting each day became too expensive, so he eventually began crashing on friends’ couches over the week to save money. He often packed skimpy lunches for himself consisting of ramen and sandwiches.
Because Moi was an in-state student, tuition at Riverside was free. But he needed to pass certain classes that Riverside didn’t offer in order to transfer to a Division I college.
Moi said most of those online classes cost about $500.
“Not only did I have to go to school broke and hungry, but I had to get money for this class to even get here,” Moi said. “And when I did get it, I still had to pass the class.”
Moi delivered newspapers and cut lawns to earn money on the side, while also spending up to nine hours on campus per day attending classes and tutor and advisor meetings.
“People talk about the JuCo struggle,” Moi said. “It’s not a lie.”
Moi said the trying time taught him a lot about himself. It pushed both him and Hotchkins to grow up faster and helped them realize it was up to them to determine their futures.
“I feel like I grew up a lot,” Hotchkins said. “I learned how to become more of a man than what I was coming out of high school.”
The struggle for Moi was “going to school, not having money, being there all day and having to finish up classes.”
Moi transferred to Oregon late in the fall of 2015 and redshirted his first year. Not surprisingly, things were much different at Oregon than at Riverside. But it’s the little things that have stood out the most.
At Oregon, for example, Moi takes advantage of the excess amount of protein bars that Oregon has stockpiled in its locker room. He said the staff at Riverside supplied the team with protein bars about once a month. When it did, the bars were “gone in seconds.”
“We never really got fed [at Riverside], so when they did provide food, it was just gone,” Moi said. “It’s just the little things.”
Senior linebacker De’Quan McDowell is another transfer to Oregon who has taken a somewhat unconventional route to get to Division I. He spent two years playing wide receiver at Ellsworth City College in Iowa Falls, Iowa, then converted to linebacker upon arrival in Eugene in the spring of 2015.
McDowell was in a better situation at Ellsworth than Hotchkins and Moi were at Riverside; Ellsworth offered scholarships and housing for its athletes. But McDowell noted some aspects of junior college athletics that made it difficult for athletes to succeed.
Many of the coaches, for instance, were not helpful.
“The coaches showed me that they don’t care about you unless they recruited you,” McDowell said. “Everything else was really corrupted.”
He said a lot of players had a “don’t care” mentality and the coaches did little to remedy that. But like in any program, there were players who were banking their futures on their time at Ellsworth.
“They’re just trying to do all they can to make it with their education and football, and that’s pretty much all they had on their minds,” McDowell said. “It’s just that straight grind. Everybody wants to make it to the next level. Junior college is only two years, so you’ve got to come out, getting it in off the bat.”
When Hotchkins, Moi and McDowell arrived at Oregon, many of their problems were solved. They are now on scholarship and don’t have to worry about finding a place to sleep or where their next meal would come from. The university supplies all of that.
But the transition to Division I is not entirely easy either, especially at a school with the athletic prowess that Oregon possesses. The academics are more intensive at Oregon and more is expected from them on the field.
So far, according to linebackers coach Don Pellum, all three have “done a pretty good job” adjusting to their new environment.
“The D-I level is a lot different than junior college because of all the other things that are asked of you,” Pellum said. “It’s tutor appointments, it’s an advisor appointment, it’s a football meeting — it’s a lot of checks and balances, a lot of things that they don’t have to deal with at the other level. Plus what we’re asking them to do in the weight room is different, and what we ask them to do on the football field is different.”
But Hotchkins, Moi and McDowell have welcomed that transition with open arms. All three consider themselves “blessed” to be where they are.
Moi and Hotchkins still talk about their time at Riverside. Long gone are the days of sleeping on their friends’ floors and going to classes hungry. Now the two look back at those days and think how fortunate they are.
Hotchkins always wanted to play at a big school. Now he’s living out his dream.
“Sometimes I’ll look out the on field and I’m like, ‘Wow, we’re playing Colorado or Washington,” Hotchkins said. “It’s just crazy that I’m here.”
Moi is grateful to be at Oregon and said that his time at Riverside has made him appreciate life more.
“JuCo just made me appreciate everything,” Moi said. “Because I worked so hard and I wanted all this. Whenever I find myself complaining about something [I think] this is what I wanted; this is what I worked for.”
The JUCO struggle: How A.J. Hotchkins went from sleeping on an apartment floor to living out his dream at Oregon
Gus Morris
November 9, 2016
Craig Mitchelldyer, Eric Cech
Oregon Ducks linebacker Jonah Moi (3) laughs with fellow linebacker A.J. Hotchkins (55) during warmups. The No. 24 Oregon Ducks play the UC Davis Aggies for the season opener at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. on Sept. 3, 2016. (Eric Cech/Emerald)
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