LAKE BEUNA VISTA, FLA. – The college football players towered over the elementary-school-aged children, but the friendships formed quickly Saturday morning.
The Citrus Bowl invited Gophers and Missouri players to hang out with a group of underprivileged children from Orlando at DisneyQuest, an indoor interactive theme park.
Gophers running back David Cobb got paired with a young girl, who kept him moving nonstop between arcade games for 90 minutes. Tight end Maxx Williams joked he could hardly keep up with his new friend, a girl about half his size.
"It just kind of gives you a chance to give back," Gophers senior Donnell Kirkwood said.
"I kind of grew up in an area [in Delray Beach, Fla.] where everybody didn't have as much. We're athletes playing D-I football. We get a lot of things, and sometimes you kind of forget what it feels like to not have everything."
Gophers senior Cedric Thompson introduced himself to two young boys, and they immediately started jumping on rides and playing video games together. Thompson grew up amid gang violence in South Central Los Angeles before eventually settling in with his dad in the remote desert community of Bombay Beach, Calif.
"You really don't notice it coming in as a freshman how much of an impact you have on these kids," Thompson said. "But when you meet them at things such as Hope Day and the carnivals, it makes you want to work that much harder. Because they look up to you, and you want to be a good role model for them."
