Rutgers-Newark Athletics

By Jim Hague

Sometimes, in the world of NCAA Division III athletics, you have to be extremely lucky to secure the services of a student-athlete.

Rutgers-Newark has to be considered very fortunate to have Dennis Willis on its indoor track and field roster. In fact, Willis became a student at the school all by a simple mistake.

Willis, a freshman at R-N, wanted to enroll at the main campus of Rutgers in New Brunswick when he graduated from nearby East Brunswick High School, a place where he was a fine sprinter for the school’s track and field program.

But somehow, when going through the application process, Willis ended up sending his college application to Rutgers-Newark instead.

“It was all done by accident,” Willis said. “I ended up sending my application to Newark and getting accepted into the EOF (Educational Opportunity Fund) program.”

Willis was still competing for an AAU track program and his coach told him that he should give R-N and coach Juan Edney a chance.

“My coach said that I should see if I liked it,” Willis said. “So I wanted to try it out.”

Willis also had an opportunity to attend Rowan University, because he’s an accomplished musician. He had an audition to try out for Rowan’s music program. Willis is a fine drummer and part-time piano player who has played in concerts and performances, as well as composing hip-hop, dance club and R&B music.

But Willis decided to attend Rutgers-Newark, where he will minor in music and possibly major in computer engineering – all to enhance his interests in music.

“I’m in the process right now of learning how to mix,” Willis said. “It’s what I want to do. I do compose a lot of music and write a lot. It’s my future.”

For now, Willis is a sprinter for the R-N track and field program, but when he arrived on the scene in Newark, Edney told Willis that he had to run cross country.

“I didn’t believe him,” Willis said. “I thought he was joking. I never ran distances before. I didn’t know if he didn’t know if I was a sprinter or a distance runner.”

In Edney’s eyes, everyone is a distance runner.

“I made him run cross country,” Edney said. “When I told him that, he looked at me like I was nuts. But they all run cross country because it gets them to understand what it takes to be in shape you need to be in to run. Whoever is left standing, they’re the ones who run. Dennis took to it well. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t say it was something he wasn’t going to do.”

But Willis was thinking a lot of different things.

“The first day of practice, I couldn’t believe I could do that distance,” Willis said. “I never ran that far in my life. It was like two or three miles. I just wanted to finish. I didn’t think I had to run through hills and trails to be a sprinter. It really wasn’t my thing.”

Willis survived enough to compete in three cross country meets for the Scarlet Raiders.

“It definitely made me a lot stronger and I feel a lot better about myself,” Willis said.

Edney believes that Willis has a lot of potential.

“He’s a young kid and a solid sprinter, but I think he can end up being one of our best sprinters,” Edney said. “He’s a little raw right now, but he’s so eager to learn and does everything I tell him to do. He has a ton of potential.”

The indoor track season will begin this weekend at an invitational relay event at Yale University. Edney is eager to see what Willis can do.

“We’ll have him run in the 55-meter dash, the sprint medley relay and a leg of the quarter mile relay,” Edney said. “During the season, he’ll ruin the 55, the 200 and the 400. He’s looked good. He has strength and power. He still has a long way to go, but so far, he looks good. I like his hard work. I just need him to be a little more aggressive. He has a passive personality, but you can’t be passive on the track.

Added Edney, “I told him he could be a lot better than he was in high school. We’ll have to see.”

But Edney isn’t sure that Willis knows how good he can be.

“I don’t think he does,” Edney said. “He tries to go out there and do his best, but he still doesn’t see his potential. He needs to get a little more confidence. I want him to have that in his mentality.”

Even though Willis ended up in Newark by mistake, he’s glad to be a part of the Scarlet Raiders’ program.

“I feel great,” Willis said. “I feel comfortable. Even though I have to get up at 7 a.m. for practices. We’re always joking around, making up songs. I’ve already fit in. It was hard to get up early for practice, but it’s working. We’re all encouraged to run and doing everything we can to help each other out.”

Willis doesn’t know what the future holds, but he’s eager to find out.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” Willis said. “I haven’t been able to test things out yet. This will be the first test to see what I can do. I just want to push myself more than anything else.”

Just like he does as a musician and as a student, Dennis Willis doesn’t want to settle for second best.