Jake Elliott sat in the bleachers at a pep rally as a freshman at Lyons Township High School in suburban Chicago in 2009. He didn’t play on the football team, so he wasn’t a notable attraction that day. In an effort to generate student participation, random students were picked from the crowd to attempt field goals. Elliott was one of them.
Elliott was a tennis player at the time, never once playing organizing football. He didn’t consider himself a passionate football fan, either. He watched the Bears on television and played football with his friends in the schoolyard.