18 Warrior Wire: Teammates Friends. Brothers.

Warrior Wire ANDREW KLINE & CANNON CAMPBELL

TEAMMATES. FRIENDS. BROTHERS.

ndrew Kline and Cannon Campbell started at Rochester University as freshmen in 2016. Both are guards for the men’s basketball team. When the duo started at RU, the institution was still known as Rochester College and the Garth Pleasant Arena wasn’t built. The team’s home games were at Rochester High School, and the Warriors weren’t a part of the Wolverine Hoosier Athletic Conference yet.

Both students decided to take advantage of eligibility extensions granted because of the COVID pandemic and returned for their sixth year at RU.

Andrew will graduate this spring with a double major in accounting and strategic leadership with a minor in sports management. He was a guard on the men’s basketball team and is from Clarkston, Michigan.

Cannon will graduate this spring with a triple major in business administration, psychology and sports management. He was a guard on the RU men’s basketball team and hails from Clarksville, Tennessee.

Andrew Cannon

It is easy to say I chose Rochester for basketball, but it was certainly more than that. I love the area. I love what the school stands for and I love how personal the education experience is. Having the chance to know my professors personally was a big deal for me. I enjoyed knowing that if I had any questions, I would be able to get a hold of them and they would be more than willing to help.

Even with that, basketball was the driving force of most decisions I made my entire life, and Rochester University was no exception. Coach Garth Pleasant built a tradition of excellence within this basketball program, and Dr. Klint Pleasant taking it over was no set back.

I knew Rochester was the team for me the first time I stepped on campus and participated in one of their loud, aggressive and honestly intimidating, open gyms. It was the first school in the area that I felt was challenging me to play my hardest the second I touched the court.

The rest of my career was no different. I was pushed by my coaches, teammates and peers to be the best I could be both on the court and off it. I will always be grateful to this school and this program for what it taught me about sacrifice and the true joy from when those sacrifices pay off.

I will never forget my time here, the professors I learned from, the coaches that pushed me to be better, and most definitely, the teammates that made all six years so memorable. As I move on to the next stage of my life, I will always cherish what Rochester University did for me.

Coming to Rochester University was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Being from Tennessee, when I first got the letter from Rochester, I just tossed it to the side, never really entertaining the idea of moving to Michigan. But after I came on a visit later that spring, the rest was history. I didn’t really know what I was looking for, but something about Rochester just felt right.

When my freshman year started, I was rightfully a little nervous being so far from home, but I soon found a new family in my basketball teammates and coaches. I felt like they truly cared, and this family atmosphere seemed to extend through the whole campus as well.

I owe so much to Rochester University and the basketball team especially, because they have shaped me from the scrawny little kid I was when I first stepped onto campus into who I am today. I’ve met some of my best friends here, people I will call family for life.

All the relationships and memories I’ve made, the lessons I’ve learned, and the ups and downs have been indescribably valuable. I never in a million years thought I’d go to Rochester, much less spend six years here, but I’d do it all over again. Sometimes it feels like I’ve been here forever, and sometimes it feels like just yesterday I was stepping on campus for the first time.

Wherever you are in your journey, I urge you to stop and enjoy the present. It’ll be over before you know it.

I’ve got a lot of love for you Rochester.