LOWER LAKE >> Isazah King said he knew this day would arrive, he just wasn’t sure of the how or when part of the equation.
Turns out the how part involved his own unrelenting hard work together with a big boost from his school, teammates, coaches and the Brunk family — namely Denis and Tammy — of Hidden Valley Lake. That along with Isazah’s determination to never take his eye off the prize of a college education made the when part a much easier question to answer.
Isazah King, the star senior quarterback and defensive back for the Lower Lake Trojans, is headed to Carroll College in Helena, Montana on a full-ride scholarship that combines academic — he’s a straight-A student — and athletic monies, a federal Pell grant, and Carroll College’s agreement to pick up the rest of the tab.
A private Catholic university, Carroll College is not cheap. The cost is $38,000 a year.
King’s scholarship covers five years and remains intact even if he suffers an injury that ends his football career, according to Denis Brunk, a Lower Lake assistant coach who hooked King up with the NAIA school during his junior year.
“Carroll College started recruiting him his junior year,” Brunk said. “They honestly never gave up even though they knew other colleges were interested.”
Why Carroll College?
“I liked the family aspect of the team,” King said. “They looked at me as more than just another player.”
A member of the Saints’ coaching staff, defensive line coach and video coordinator Mason Siddick, was so interested in King, who broke Lake County’s single-season rushing record for quarterbacks with 1,629 yards in 2014, that he made not one but two visits to Lake County to meet with King.
Carroll College appealed to King on another level as well.
“They’ve won their conference almost every year since 2000,” King said.
In fact, Carroll College won 12 straight Frontier Conference titles (2000-2011). During that same span, they were NAIA champions six times (2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2010).
The Saints finished 12-2 last season and made it as far as the NAIA semifinals while ending up third in the nation in the final NAIA poll.
Carroll College coach Mike Van Diest may red-shirt King his freshman year although that’s not a given, according to King.
“He said I’m going to play soon,” King said. “If they have an immediate need at a position where they can use me, I might play (in 2015).”
King could play on offense or defense.
“Most of their secondary graduates after next season,” said Brunk, who along with wife Tammy invited King into their home and lives on a full-time basis in October of 2013, King’s junior year at Lower Lake.
King’s immediate plans are to continue his football career as long as possible, but he’s also interested in pursuing a business degree, perhaps in international business, as a fallback after his playing days are over.
“They (Carroll College) have an 85-percent job placement rate,” said Denis’ son, Mike Brunk.
Mike Brunk, who attends college back in New York, befriended King two years ago and brought him home for dinner one night. King’s life hasn’t been the same ever since.
“When I was a freshman I knew I was going to college one day, but I didn’t know how or where I was going to get the money to do it,” King said. “I just kept working hard and I knew it would work out one day.”
King, who officially signed his letter of intent earlier this week and re-staged the signing for the Record-Bee on Wednesday afternoon at the high school, said his coach for the last two years, Lower Lake varsity head coach Justin Gaddy, has greatly aided his pursuit of a college scholarship.
“Coach Gaddy is good at lifting everyone’s spirits when times are hard,” King said. “He always kept our goals in line.”
Said Gaddy, “The example he sets for all the kids that follow behind him is his legacy,” Gaddy said. “He has kids looking up to him at the youth level.”
Several of King’s teammates were on hand Wednesday.
“I wanted them to see that hard work does pay off,” Gaddy said. “I asked them, ‘Who is going to be next?’”
