Illinois lineman Vederian Lowe has an incredible story, one that he had the chance to share as the B1G’s featured student-athlete.

Monday evening, BTN aired the official B1G Kickoff Show. Among other things, the show featured interviews with the head coaches throughout the B1G as teams continue ramping up for the season right around the corner.

As a part of the show, Lowe took to the podium to deliver a speech and share his story. Coming back to the Illini for a fifth season, Lowe is married with two young sons and has also taken the role of guardian of his little brother.

“If someone would have told me that by my final season of college I would be married, have two beautiful sons, and also would have guardianship of my little brother, I would have told them they must have just left happy hour or something because you seem out of your mind,” said Lowe. “Matter of fact, they would be telling the total and complete truth. But despite all that being said, these are things that just many college athletes just don’t have to deal with.”

Lowe went on to discuss some of the challenges of the 2020 season but the hope for a normal 2021 season right around the corner:

“COVID-19 tried to take the life out of college football,” explained Lowe. “But this year, we will finally get to experience again packed stadiums with 60-100,000 people screaming our names. And we will finally get to experience again the opponents fans telling us that we’re just drawing up Madden plays when we come off the field trying to adjust.”

You can check out Lowe’s full speech below:

Lowe was a member of the 2017 recruiting class out of Rockford, Illinois. He has 40 career starts under his belt and will look to anchor the offensive line for the Illini for one more season.