JONESBORO -- Robert Mondie's senior football season isn't starting the way he envisioned it.
For one, he's wearing a black jersey instead of a green one. It also has the number 47 on the front instead of 43. When he heads to practice it's at Centennial Bank Stadium in Jonesboro, not Legion Field in Birmingham, Ala.
At a glance
NAME Robert Mondie
YEAR Senior
POSITION Defensive tackle
HEIGHT 6-2
WEIGHT 321
NOTABLE Transfer from Alabama-Birmingham where he played one season before the program folded. … Made eight tackles in 11 games for the Blazers. … Younger brother, Devin, is a starting left guard for ASU. … Worked with the No. 1 defense during spring practice.
Considering how suddenly things were pulled out from under him and his teammates last winter at Alabama-Birmingham, Mondie said he can't complain too much about where he landed.
Mondie is listed as the first team defensive tackle at Arkansas State and headed for almost guaranteed playing time while trying to solidify one of its thinnest positions on the team. Even better, he is roommates and teammates with his younger brother Devin, who is a starting left guard for the Red Wolves. It marks the first time they have been teammates since playing youth football outside of Memphis.
Nope, Jonesboro doesn't seem like a bad spot at all after administrators at UAB folded the school's football program following last season, citing financial reasons, which caused dozens of players to look for new schools.
"It could have been worse," Mondie said. "A lot of those guys had to move far away from their families and go to places where they didn't know anybody. At least I can come somewhere I know somebody. I feel like I was in the best predicament of all the guys."
That's not to say getting there was easy.
Mondie arrived at UAB in January 2014 after spending two seasons at Coahoma (Miss.) Community College. He made eight tackles in 11 games as a reserve while helping the Blazers to a 6-6 record and bowl eligibility for the first time in a decade.
But the season was played under a cloud. Mondie said he first heard chatter of the program being cut during fall camp in August. It picked up even more as the Blazers started the season 4-2.
"When we started having a winning season, that's when rumors started coming around even more," Mondie said. "It was frustrating, but at the same time our coach instilled in us to not buy into the negativity. What's going to happen is going to happen."
Mondie and his teammates did the best they could, capping the season with a victory over Southern Miss to get to 6-6. Three days after that victory, UAB President Ray Watts told players in a team meeting the program was being shut down in a move that drew widespread criticism.
"That's when the emotions were really running high," Mondie said. "I really loved being a part of the Blazers. They were keeping it a secret, and when they finally let it out it was like, 'Dang, y'all brought all these new guys, like me, here and now you're telling us well have to get up and leave?' "
Devin, who started 12 games for ASU last year, told his older brother there would likely be a spot for him at ASU, but Devin also knew former ASU coach Bryan Harsin had offered his brother a spot at Boise State before he chose UAB and that might be an option again.
It didn't take Robert Mondie too long to make a decision. ASU was less than two hours from home, his younger brother was there, and he got to know some players while visiting Devin on some weekends and in the spring. So Robert Mondie moved to Jonesboro in January and into an apartment with his younger brother, then took his place with the top defense when spring practice began.
"It's an experience that I never thought I'd see happen," Devin Mondie said. "Of course, I felt I was a really big influence on him coming to play here. I'm just excited that we have him now because we really need him on the defensive line."
Coach Blake Anderson said it took Mondie awhile to get comfortable.
"He didn't want the program to be disbanded. I think he was perfectly happy where he was," Anderson said. "I think he's starting to feel like it's home now, and I'm not sure at the end of spring if it really did yet. He was just trying to maintain and get by."
Mondie was in Jonesboro going through summer conditioning workouts when word circulated that UAB was reinstating its football program. He was upset at first but said he doesn't have any regrets.
"Everything happens for a reason," he said. "If that wouldn't have happened, I never would have had the chance to come here. If they kept it we would have had a strong, strong team this year, and that's what they didn't want.
"So, yeah, it was heartbreaking."
Sports on 08/08/2015