Lesroy Tittle was looking for a chance to prove himself, and Chicago State was looking for players to launch a Division I football program.
It wound up being a perfect match.
Tittle, a true freshman who was part of three state championship teams at Nazareth, had a big night on defense in the Cougars’ 43-20 loss to Norfolk State on Sept. 26 at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview.
The 6-4, 235-pounder had four solo tackles, four assists and two tackles for loss. It’s just the latest time he’s made waves for Chicago State (1-4). In a win against Kentucky Christian, Tittle had a pick-six, eight total tackles, a sack and three tackles for loss.
Not bad, considering he was still looking for a college home just a few months before the Cougars played the first game in program history on Aug. 29.
“I talked to coach (Kentwan) Balmer first and then coach (Le’Marcus) Gibson contacted me right after,” said Tittle, who finished his high school career with a season at West Aurora. “They were talking to me throughout my spring semester and really I felt at home. I never really met (head) coach (Bobby) Rome, but I trusted the process and I just believed that I could be able to be there and play.”
Rome now believes that, too.
“For a young man his age, you know the potential that he has — he’s a football player,” Rome said. “He can play the edge, (we) can line him up inside — what can’t he do? He came to me one day and said, ‘Coach, I also averaged 40 yards a punt.'”
Tittle’s pick-six against Kentucky Christian made quite an impression on Rome.
“It made me go back and watch the highlight tape and figure out who the hell this kid was,” Rome said. “… Because he knew what to do with the football. … He took that thing to the house and knew what to do with it.
“So it made me go back and reevaluate who he was and get a better understanding of how he can help this football team.”
As a first-year program, the Cougars are building for the future. Tittle is one of dozens of freshmen on the roster whom Rome hopes will lay a solid foundation.
“I know these kids are going to develop,” Rome said, adding that roster retention in the portal era is a key priority.
But he believes the program’s pioneers will want to succeed in the program that gave them a chance to play Division I football.
“They want to do it here in Chicago,” Rome said.
Tittle is one of several local players who have been playing meaningful snaps for the Cougars. Evergreen Park’s Arshawn Powell had four catches for 34 yards against Norfolk State (3-3), while St. Rita’s Calvin Lee returned three kickoffs for 59 yards.
Chicago State grabbed an early lead against the Spartans — who are coached by longtime NFL quarterback Michael Vick — when it recovered a muffed kickoff and Ashton Pannell threw a 30-yard TD pass to DeArmond Matthews on the next play.
Pannell had a touchdown run and the Cougars’ special teams came up big again when Tehron Spencer blocked a punt and Adrian Bowers ran it back 50 yards for a score.
But Norfolk State’s big-play offense carried the day as the Spartans had three TDs of 55 yards or more.
“Not the showing that we would like,” Rome said. “We have high expectations here. We want to get better every single week. We feel like we are getting better every single week, but we’ve got to eliminate mistakes.”