As a walk-on, life can be difficult. The majority of the team is on scholarship and knows their place on the roster. A walk-on is still trying to figure that out.

For Illinois’ Tip Reiman, he was dealing with the adjustment to college and some other difficult realities. The main one was depression.

Teammate Daniel Imatorbhebhe noticed that when Reiman was a freshman. He was looking downtrodden and had his possessions scattered outside of his locker. He recorded the videos and sent them to Reiman a year later. He admitted then that he was going through it.

“I was dealing with some really, really hard things,” Reiman said, via Jeremy Werner of 247IlliniInquirer.

Thanks to Imatorbhebhe and his new wife Maddy, Reiman is in a good place now. He and Imatorbhebhe connected on a deeper level and his wife has been his rock.

“She made me the best me, for sure, and I made her the best her,” Reiman said.