Name: Atiba Fitz

Sport: Football

Position: Running Back

Year: Redshirt Freshman

High School: Euclid

Lily Goodfellow: Where are you from, and how did you end up playing football for COD?

Atiba Fitz: I’m from Cleveland, Ohio. I graduated high school in 2021, and I was committed to the United States Air Force Academy. They found out that I have a neck tattoo before I went, so I ended up not being able to go there. I took a year off, and then I got a text from College of DuPage and ended up coming here.

LG: When did you start playing football?

AF: I started playing football when I was nine years old for the park district. Ever since I was nine, I haven’t missed a year of playing football. 

LG: Have you ever had to deal with any injuries or setbacks?

AF: My biggest injury was a concussion I had in my senior year of high school. It was crazy. I still don’t know how it happened or which hit caused it. There were three or four plays that it could have been. I was out the rest of the season.

LG: How do your teammates make practice fun?

AF: Just by staying engaged and competing every day. Everyone gives full effort every day.

LG: What do you like most about being part of a team sport?

AF: The relationships that you build. I feel like being in sports helps you make friends that you will remember forever.  

LG: What motivates you?

AF: My family. Knowing that they support me in everything I do, that keeps me going every day.

LG: What are your goals with football and school?

AF: My goals with football and school is to graduate from COD and hopefully go to a four-year college and graduate with my bachelor’s in sports management. The plan is to also continue playing football for a university. 

LG: Who is your role model?

AF: I would probably say my mom. Since I was little, she is pretty much all I have. Everything I’ve seen her do, I wanted to do growing up. So now, everything I do I make sure to dedicate it to my mother. She comes to every home game, so I still get to see her almost every weekend.  

LG: How do you like to spend your free time?

AF: I probably just work out, chill and do some homework. That’s about it. I’ll play video games and watch YouTube. 

LG: What one word best describes you?

AF: I would say ambitious.

LG: Thank you very much, Atiba!

AF: No problem. Thank you!