Between workouts, practices and road trips, student-athletes get a different college experience than their peers. Homework is still due and tests still have to be taken, but there are also team meetings and weekday games that add to the list of responsibilities of student-athletes. At The Citadel, student-athletes must balance classroom and athletic commitments all while sticking to the daily regimen required of them by The Military College of South Carolina.

Each day features a strict schedule and formations at each meal, as well as a mandatory evening study period after dinner until 10:30 p.m. Free-time becomes limited and while discipline and dedication are required in any college atmosphere, Citadel athletes must learn to push themselves and support their fellow teammates as they go through their years as a cadet.

Freshman year forms a bond between the first-year cadets that will last throughout their time at The Citadel. All freshmen, or “knobs” as they are known at The Citadel, have an idea of what to expect when they arrive on campus, but no knob can really comprehend the commitment and perseverance necessary to finish their first year. 

“It’s an eye-opening experience,” head track and field coach Jody Huddleston said. “They think they know what to expect. We bring them in for a visit and they talk to the kids on the team or alumni or their parents and grandparents went here, so they think they have a good idea of what to expect but they don’t.”

They grow closer through a new and difficult experience, and once they become upperclassmen, they can offer the new freshmen advice on how to make the most of their time as knobs.

“All the knobs try to stick together,” freshman thrower Kaitlyn Moore said. “Teammates help a lot, too. A lot of them are upperclassman and know what you are going through. They can help you out.”

All freshmen have Recognition Day marked on their calendars, marking the day that they are recognized as members of the corps of cadets. They must go through a rigorous day of physical and mental challenges that are a culmination of everything that freshmen have learned over the course of their first nine months at the Citadel.

“It’s going to be a great moment,” freshman Jackson Nosbisch said. “This year really teaches you how to not quit and push through no matter what challenges you have. Finally getting through knob year is going to be indescribable, honestly.”

While not easy, being a student-athlete at The Citadel is a point of pride. Attending a military school requires more focus and determination than most student-athletes anticipate, but the reward is much greater than anything they imagined.

 “When people see that you graduated from The Citadel and went through all this, they know you are someone special,” Nosbisch said.