Atlantic Coast

NC State Football: Wolfpack players take time to change the world

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 12:48 p.m. ET

Fansided, Shannon Sickmon/FanSided via Saturday Blitz

After a slew of arrests and negative headlines around college football, here is a story about a team — NC State football — doing something right.

We sometimes forget that college football players are adolescents, with all of the same hormones and dumb impulses that we had when we were in college. That doesn't excuse bad behavior.

However, seeing Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield act like a drunken hoodlum or watching University of Florida recruit James Robinson get arrested for marijuana humanizes them. These kids are in a fishbowl, and with social media giving everyone news in real time, we sometimes hear too much of the bad news and not enough of the good.

The NC State football team has changed that. Several of their players gave up their spring breaks to travel to Kenya of all places and do mission work. Wolfpack punter A.J. Cole III had been traveling to Kenya since he was a child. In addition to being a talented football player, Cole must be a heck of a salesman — he convinced three of his fellow NC State players to accompany him. Brady Bodine, Nicholas Lacy and Airius Moore traveled with him to Nakuru, Kenya, to do mission work, teach and encourage the children of Mountain Park Academy.

The trip wasn't easy. They had to raise the money — over $3,000 — themselves. They had to get a vast array of immunizations, and spend hours traveling both by plane and by Jeep in tough conditions in the African bush. Once there, the accommodations were rough, and modern amenities were nonexistent. Cole has made the trip 4 years in a row and even sponsors one child, Benedict, with his own stipend.

The Wolfpack players brought school supplies, helped to teach, and played football (both kinds) with the children. The players all agreed that being with the children changed their lives for the better. Indeed, Lacy, a biology major, has decided to devote his time after graduation to working in the global health field. Lacy could then travel developing countries like Kenya to help with their unique health issues.

Moore, Bodine, and Cole all agreed to return next year, as well. Regardless, the trip had a massive impact on all of the players. Moore summed up the experience this way, according to ESPN: "They changed my life more than I changed theirs."