Lamar Frederick doesn’t believe in dreaming, rather, he believes in manifesting his goals with hard work and dedication. The former Newsome football and track star signed to play both sports in college at Illinois State on July 25.
Last season, the Wolves’ leading receiver helped the team make its first regional finals appearance in their school’s history, recording five touchdowns and 212 receiving yards. Frederick, who was originally a soccer player, picked up football and track in high school as a freshman. He credits his former football teammate, Patrick Jolly, for getting him to try out for the track team. Frederick’s main event is the high jump, and he is ranked fourth in the state in track. He went to states last year, finishing third.
Newsome football Head Coach Christian Yockey, who had just received the job, recruited Frederick to play football in the halls of the school when he saw him walk by. Frederick credits Yockey for teaching him football concepts and giving him confidence in himself as a football player. That’s what made Frederick think he could be something special as an athlete.
“Lamar came to us as an immature kid that really grew up the last three years in our program,” said Yockey. “He went through some growing pains, grew up a bunch and filled out his body, got really strong and turned out to be a big help for our team in his senior year.”
The dual-sport star had offers from other schools, but he felt that Illinois State was the right fit. The ISU assistant track and field coach, Daniel Gooris, who recruited Frederick, took a special interest in him and went out of his way to make him feel comfortable. Frederick also knew some other players from Hillsborough County that were at the school, including former Bloomingdale receiver Maurice Frost II.
As an undersized 12-year-old, Frederick didn’t have an inkling that sports would be in his future. He said that in his family, sports or the military are the primary future options.
Both of his older sisters are in the military and his older brother, Milton Anthony Hall Jr., played running back for North Carolina State. After growing a few inches as a freshman and receiving opportunities to play, he became a standout right away, and everybody, himself included, had very high expectations for him from the jump. In four short years, he turned his talent and hard work into a D-I scholarship. The chance to compete at the highest level excited him.
“It’s kind of surreal because I know when I first started sports my freshman year, everyone was thinking Division I—ever since then, it’s what I had my mind set on,” said Frederick.
Frederick, who is a Barstool Sports athlete, is solely focusing on the indoor track season right now, as he is redshirting his first year as a football player. He loves both sports for different reasons. He enjoys football because of the camaraderie as a team sport and he enjoys track as an individual sport because it’s all on him to go out and win.
Frederick’s main goal is to play in the NFL one day. He is majoring in exercise science/sports medicine. If he doesn’t make it to the league as a player, he wants to become a physical trainer for an NFL team where he can eventually try out as a player.
