California native Phil Shin, a senior in biological sciences, stays busy with pre-medicine classes and daily practices for the UMR football team, but it can still be hard living such a long distance from his family on the West Coast.

That isn’t a major problem for Shin, however, who says he has found a family in the Miner football team. “During the season, we practice three hours a day,” he says. “Since my real family is all the way back in California, the team is all I have here. As a senior, my role is to set an example for the new transfer and freshman players.”

Shin believes these new players, as well as those returning this year, will lead the UMR football program to success. “We work hard,” he says, “and we have the attitude to win. Our team future will be determined by the way our first week of practices go. I’ll do my best to push our team in the right way to win. I hope I affect every single player and we come out in our first game with a bang.”

Shin has already made his mark on the UMR football team as a wide receiver — he caught the game-winning touchdown pass in a win over No. 23-ranked Central Missouri State a year ago — after a high school career as an all-state, all-county and all-league player. “I really got attracted to the offensive strategies that the UMR football team runs,” Shin says. “I decided to come to UMR because I felt it was the perfect environment for me to achieve both my academic and athletic goals.”