MAHOMET — Luke Dyer holds his cell phone in his right hand in a classroom situated next to the Mahomet-Seymour High School Fieldhouse.
He checks the phone from time to time during a 20-minute conversation in mid-April discussing his football journey. But the phone is mainly just to make sure the dates line up with his recruiting process.
A process and phone that has seen the 6-foot-2, 200-pound senior quarterback send, in his words, thousands of messages to various college coaches the past two years.
Introducing himself. Making sure they have clips to his film.
Listing his height and weight. Putting forth relevant statistics and accolades.
“You say what you want them to know about you,” Dyer said, “and anything that’s going to make you stand out.”
Dyer certainly stood out playing football at Mahomet-Seymour. A First Team All-Area pick by The News-Gazette this past fall, Dyer threw for 2,677 yards and 30 touchdowns in leading the Bulldogs to a 7-3 record, a fourth straight Apollo Conference title and a fourth consecutive Class 5A playoff appearance. All told, he threw for 5,308 yards and 55 touchdowns the past two seasons for one of the area’s most successful programs.
But getting college coaches at either the FBS or FCS level to notice him? Well, that was a different story. One sixth-year M-S football coach Jon Adkins summed up in one word.
“Frustrating,” Adkins said.
How so?
“Everybody wants to talk about measurables, and that’s what they all want to recruit off of,” Adkins said. “Sometimes, there’s things that measurables don’t see. That’s his smarts. His leadership skills. IQ level. Those are measurables that can’t be seen on film or on Hudl.”
Still, Dyer persisted. He had options to possibly play at Division III in-state schools like North Central College and Monmouth College, but Dyer wasn’t about to give up on getting a chance to play Division I football after receiving some interest, but no offers, from the likes of in-state FCS programs Eastern Illinois, Illinois State and Southern Illinois.
“To play at the Division I level was always a dream of mine,” Dyer said. “I didn’t care if it was FBS or FCS. I just wanted an opportunity.”
Which is why, once he received a phone number for UT Martin coach Jason Simpson in late February, he sent another text message. With no preconceived notions on if he would hear back from a veteran coach who has led the FCS program to 124 wins since 2006. Especially since UT Martin’s 2025 season starts on Aug. 28 at Oklahoma State.
“When I reached out to UT Martin, I told them I’d love an opportunity to walk on,” Dyer said. “I thanked them for their time and thanked them for watching my film and I let them know I’d really appreciate it if I heard back from them.”
But he wasn’t getting his hopes up on if he would receive a response.
“My hit rate on those was terrible,” Dyer said with a grin.
So when he decided to relax for a bit one day in early March, he didn’t realize his college path would change.
“I was actually in the middle of a nap when I got a text back from UT Martin,” Dyer said. “Then, I got a missed call, and I was freaking out because I missed the call. I did not recognize the area code.”
UT Martin quarterbacks coach Danny Modelski was trying to touch base with Dyer.
“I got back to him right away,” Dyer said. “He responded. Thankfully.”
The Skyhawks were interested in Dyer. The feeling was mutual. Especially given his family’s ties to the school and northwest Tennessee.
“My mom went to school there and my dad transferred there, and that is where they met and fell in love,” said Jessica Dyer, Luke’s mom. “I also have five or six cousins that have all graduated from there. My mom’s entire family all lives about 10-15 miles from there. We are very familiar with that area.”
They’re about to become even more familiar.
‘There were low points’
When Luke and Modelski touched base initially, the UT Martin quarterbacks coach wanted Luke to check out a spring practice in person. He sent Luke a copy of the Skyhawks’ spring practice schedule and he made the four-hour trip to visit UT Martin on March 9.
“Martin is a similar size to Mahomet,” Luke said. “Facilities-wise, I was really impressed with the stadium and their football building. I didn’t do much looking around in the town of Martin, but the campus was really nice. It impressed me.”
He met with Simpson and Modelski on the visit after watching practice.
“When I left, the coaches just said they’d be reaching out within a week,” Luke said. “They wanted me to go home and talk about it with my family.”
Kevin Dyer has watched and played a part in nearly every step of his son’s football journey. A former Mahomet-Seymour quarterback himself with the Bulldogs in 1994 and 1995 before he played in college at Lindenwood, football is a part of the Dyer family lore. Kevin’s dad, Cliff, was a former M-S assistant football coach, and Kevin’s brother, Ben, also played quarterback with the Bulldogs.
Staying patient and persistent was just part of Luke’s recruiting saga, a point his dad made sure to reinforce given all the changes to college football recruiting because of the transfer portal. And knowing only one or two quarterbacks, if that many, are added to a team each season.
“We were going to have to wait until very late in the process after his senior season had ended to figure out where he was going to go,” Kevin said. “Which meant he was going to have to just let it go for a while and get focused on the season. Which he did. He always put his high school teammates and coaches first.”
Luke played through the fall, putting up impressive numbers and setting a M-S single-game record with 593 passing yards and eight touchdowns in a Week 1 win against Morton. He helped the Bulldogs recover from losing their top wideout and his favorite target, future Illini Trey Peters, to a season-ending torn ACL in his right knee during a Week 3 loss against Sycamore.
“We allowed a lot of our offense this past year to be on his shoulders with RPOs and reads,” Adkins said. “There were several times where our coaching staff would ask him, ‘Hey, what are your thoughts?’ He saw the game through a coach’s eyes and studied it well enough. His leadership, again, helped not only propel our offense, but certainly our team as a whole. When we lose one of our best wide receivers, our offense didn’t miss a beat, and that’s because of the signal-caller that we had.”
The football season ended abruptly for Luke and the rest of his teammates after a 24-21 home loss to Sacred Heart-Griffin in the first round of the 5A playoffs in early November. A multi-sport athlete, Luke then turned his attention to the upcoming basketball season. A season where he played a key role in helping the Bulldogs improve throughout the winter and reach a 3A regional championship game. All while devoting considerable time and energy to his college football aspirations.
“There were definitely low points, especially as it got further along in the basketball season and I didn’t have a spot to be at,” Luke said. “I was getting super worried, to be honest. My dad would always tell me I’m going to end up where I’m supposed to be at. As soon as I stopped worrying about and letting stuff go, that’s when things started happening for me.”
‘Let’s get to work’
The lowest point? Luke won’t name the specific school, but he thought he had a potential college home this past winter.
“It was during basketball season,” he said. “I got a promising text message from a coach and a school that I liked. Then, I got ghosted. That was probably the worst because I’d been trying for so long and I thought I finally had a breakthrough. I realize it was all for the better now.”
Keeping a level head despite the setbacks is what his parents encouraged him with.
“Just keep reminding him how hard he has worked and to just go out there and do his best,” Jessica said. “Have faith that it will happen but to be patient with himself and with the process. There was never a doubt in my mind that if he puts his mind to something and works hard for it, it will happen for him.”
When Luke returned from his March trip to Martin, he got back in touch with Simpson a week later.
“I called him and he just asked me if I’m ready,” Luke said. “I said, ‘Yes, I’m ready to commit. I’ve talked about it with my family, and this is what we want to do.’”
Kevin said even though Luke is going to UT Martin as a walk-on and it was a quick process, he felt like the Skyhawks coaching staff treated his son like a priority in wanting to add Luke to their program.
“Once UT Martin got involved, we knew it was different and knew that it was meant to be,” Kevin said. “They were great and showed a different attention to detail when it came to Luke and why they wanted him. Everything really lined up perfectly from the football side and the school side.”
After Luke got off the phone with Simpson, he got in touch with Mike Orton. Orton is a familiar face with M-S athletics who helps run ‘This Week in Bulldog Athletics,’ on social media and is also part of the Bulldog TV YouTube channel that helps broadcast M-S sporting events, and provided Luke a graphic to share his college decision on social media.
“He got me a graphic within 30 minutes,” Luke said.
His aunt, Jennifer Soderlind, also played a part in letting the public initially know of Luke’s decision by proofreading his post while sitting next to him at a family dinner and making a few suggestions before he hit the send button just before 7 p.m. on March 15.
“Obviously, when I’m going through the recruiting process, I’m not thinking about making a social media post,” Luke said with a laugh. “It was a good feeling to be able to announce it. A lot of people reached out to me and said congratulations. That was really nice, and it was a lot of weight off my shoulders.”
Luke tried to savor the moment the night of March 15 with his friends and family. Finally, after thousands of messages, film highlights, camps, phone calls and more, he could call himself a Division I college football player.
“But then, the next day, your mind shifts to, ‘Now, I’m a college football player,’” Luke said. “‘Let’s get to work.’”
‘He stayed positive’
Luke will leave Mahomet on July 6 to begin his time at UT Martin. The Skyhawks are coming off a 9-5 season in 2024 that saw them reach the second round of the FCS playoffs. Along with Oklahoma State in the season opener, UT Martin also plays at Texas El-Paso the following week in its second game against an FBS opponent.
But Luke understands his route to seeing the field this year isn’t likely. He’s a walk-on quarterback new to college football, and even though the Skyhawks will have to replace starting quarterback Kinkead Dent, three other quarterbacks with college experience are already on the UT Martin roster.
“Game reps-wise, it’s obviously going to be different for me,” Luke said. “I’ve always thought of myself as a really hard worker. My work ethic isn’t going to change. I’ll obviously have to prove myself at UT Martin, but I’m just trying to get better every day.”
Adkins is confident the work Luke put in during his recruiting journey, the persistence and the ability to overcome adversity will benefit him at the next level.
“He took it better than I did because he was the one that kept saying, ‘I’m just focused on this season right now and just playing with my best friends and having a good senior year,’” Adkins said. “He never, while the season was going on, let it affect him. I could tell when it was over and he was midway through basketball season, he was going, ‘What the heck is going on?’ But, again, true to his character, he stayed patient, stayed positive and was able to make something happen for himself.”
Luke plans on studying sports business marketing, with hopes of possibly becoming an athletic director or a teacher and a coach once his college career ends. A career that he is grateful for despite all the uncertainty he had to deal with for the majority of his senior year about where he would wind up.
His best piece of advice to high school football players who may go through the same process? Wise wisdom that seems to go beyond his years.
“If your goal is to play college football, get in good film to coaches, but you can’t control whether coaches respond to you or not,” Luke said. “You’ll end up where you’re supposed to be at. You just need to be where your feet are. Be with your teammates every single day and enjoy playing high school sports. Because that’s the most fun anyone has playing any type of sport is playing high school sports with your best friends.”
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