On a cold day, Oct. 2, senior Quran Spillman practices football with his fellow teammates after school like any other weekday. With only a few games left and playoffs around the corner, Spillman had no idea that he is about to suffer such a painful injury at such an important time.
Spillman rolls over and looks at his leg, he cringes at the site and forcefully looks away to say, “I can’t look, it’s broken! It’s for sure broken.” As he hollers in pain, teammates surround him to find his left leg bent in a way it shouldn’t be. Spillman broke his lower fibula and dislocated his ankle.
With such important games ahead, Spillman shared his disappointment over the untimely injury and how it affects his football career.
“I wish I could go back in time and have never caught that ball. If I didn’t catch that ball, I would have never been pushed out of bounds to get injured. It sucks. But I have hope in my team and no regrets from this season, [we] will go far,” Spillman said.
Though the injury was certainly unfortunate, Spillman accepts what has happened and insists on moving forward in a positive manner.
Recently Spillman underwent surgery to repair his injured leg. Next on his agenda, upon a successful recovery, is a rigorous training schedule to get his body back into playing condition.
William Pistorius, teacher and Niles West Football coach, raved about Spillman’s relentless work ethic and unique ability to make plays on his own. When asked to describe Spillman in two words, he chose ‘athletic and unemotional’, describing how Quran uses his natural abilities to make key plays–things other kids simply can not do– and doesn’t have to make a big show of it.
“Quran actually replaced[senior] Jeremy Pignato when he was injured and not only had to run for special teams, but also play a huge role in our defense and punt the ball… He’s what we call a ‘difference maker’, he plays multiple roles and is an incredible asset to the team,” Pistorius shared.
‘On my grind’ are the three words that Spillman uses to describe his efforts not only to recover from his injury, but the way he worked before this all ever happened. Spillman shares his childhood football career, the reasons he ever started and why he continues to love them game describing his ongoing ‘grind’, or passion, to continue to improve and make something of himself on and off the field.
“I started playing football when I was ten. I love it so much because I love the outlet it gives me, plus the physical part of it. It builds toughness and relationships with teammates,” Spillman said, “but I also love the tradition it creates including all the fans that come to the games.”
“I won athlete of the week for varsity my junior year and I was brought up to varsity for a bit my sophomore year. But it all started with High Ridge Chargers in Chicago, my first football team where we went to down nationals 3 years in a row,” Spillman said.
Awards under his belt, and working towards many more to come, Spillman has high hopes for the future regardless of this bump in the road, including continuing his football career on the college level.
“I hope to go to the best college that I can play for,” he said, “ but they have to have really nice uniforms!”
As his team moves forward in hopes of a successful postseason, Spillman will have to support them from the sidelines though he would have liked to have more control over his personal goals.
“I had hopes of going 8-1 for the season and getting past the first round of the playoffs. For myself, I wished to achieve the All-Conference award as a personal goal and just making a name for myself. The worst part about this all, being injured, is not being able to help my team succeed,” he said. “But this will eventually pass and I’ll have to carry on.”
