COREY JOYNER
SOPHOMORE WIDE RECEIVER
ALLISOK
from cover
Players use the
phrase “L.L.D.”
— Long Live
Demitri — to
honor him.
Joyner and
Morris both
have “LLD.”
tattoed on their
left forearms.
the 10 on the sideline and other
things to commemorate his memo
ry. I was proud of how things were
handled Saturday.”
Allison has been at the forefront
of the team’s mind since Nov. 11,
2015, with players using the phrase
“L.L.D.” — Long Live Demitri — to
honor him. When the team breaks
the huddle, they use “L.L.D.” On
many of the players’ social media
accounts, you find “L.L.D.”
And on the bodies of a few of the
players — like on the left forearms
of both Joyner and senior offensive
lineman O’Shane Morris — you’ll
find “L.L.D.” in their profiles.
“1 got it about 2.5 weeks after the
incident happened,” Morris said. “I
wanted to get something so I can
keep him with me forever. He’s
with me on my forearm. I look at it
before every game to remind me of
who I’m doing this for.”
Joyner’s tattoo, which he got a
few months after last season, is on
the back of his left arm. His bond
with Allison and the Hartman fam
ily goes back years.
“I knew him before I came to
Elon, and he was the reason why
I came to Elon,” Joyner said. “I
knew his family really well, and
we’re close friends. 1 wanted to do
something for him, to honor him. 1
wanted to tell the story without tell
ing the story — that people could
see the tattoo — and so his name
can live on.”
Skrosky has done his best to be
understanding of the various ways
that his players cope with the trag
edy, which has lasted beyond the
final few games of the 2015 season.
“I think we all deal with trage
dy in different ways, and I think I
tried, deliberately, to do as good of
a job as I can [with that],” Skrosky
said. “It wasn’t my job to tell 100+
people, ‘Here’s the way to deal with
this tragedy.’ That wasn’t the time
and place. Each individual guy —
myself included, my staff included,
support staff, everybody — deals
with it in a different way, mourns in
a different way and looks at it in a
different way.”
The team has focused on trying
to break the stigma around mental
health, especially in a masculine cul
ture that is typically associated with
a football team. The team shot a sui
cide awareness video in September
with Active Minds, something done
with Allison in mind. Skrosky said
it’s continued to be a focal point for
the team.
“Mental health in this country is
a serious issue, especially in this age
group and in African-Americans,”
Skrosky said. “At the end of the day,
when I see a guy going down a path
that might be bad — not depression,
per se, but not having the self-es
teem they should have when they’re
doing great things — you’re saying.
‘Hey guys, it’s not bad. You’re not
going through this alone. You’re
not the only one experiencing anx
iety, or experiencing pressures that
are athletically-related, academical
ly-related, socially-related.’
“I think it’s made that conversa
tion much more open. To tell a guy,
‘Talk to somebody. You aren’t the
only one going through that.’ That’s
what I’ve recognized, and because
of that, you do see these guys in a
closer light. I think it’s a lot easier
for a kid to talk to a coach or fellow
teammate and say, ‘Hey, I’m strug
gling, man.’ And that teammate to
say, ‘Yeah, me too.’ It’s like, ‘Okay,
I’m not any different.’ We all strug
gle. I struggle. You need people to
get through the struggles.”
The team has grown closer in the
time since the tragedy, with Joyner
saying he feels “closer than [he has]
ever felt” to his current teammates.
But they won’t go on without their
teammate. Christiansen keeps
Allison’s memory alive by hanging
the “L.L.D.” towel that the players
got for the Nov. 21 game in his
room.
“Everyone has their own little
thing that reminds them of some
body they lost, and that’s my thing
for him,” Christiansen said. “I wake
up and I see that everyday, and what
I think is, ‘Who am I living for?
Who am I trying to remember and
make proud?”’
Morris also believes the best way
to honor Allison is to never forget
him.
“It’s as simple as when we play
NCAA Football, Demitri pops
in my head because that was our
favorite game to play with him,”
Morris said. “I just look at my arm
sometimes and think, ‘L.L.D.’ and
just Snapchat [my tattoo] saying,
‘Miss you Demitri.’ It’s the little
stuff like that.”
Joyner says he felt Allison’s pres
ence on the first play of Saturday’s
game against the University of
Rhode Island, when junior defen
sive lineman Dondre Howell inter
cepted a pass and returned for a
touchdown.
“For me and for a lot of the
team, [the Senior Day ceremony]
was motivation,” Joyner said. “That
motivation was depicted more on
the first play of the game, when
[Howell] was able to pick that
ball and run it back. That was the
epitome of what we thought the
game was going to end up and play
throughout.”
And Joyner said he truly believes
Allison has become a guardian angel
for the team since he passed away,
continuing to make an impact at
Elon.
“He has been since Nov. 11 last
year,” Joyner said. “I still continue
to feel that feeling. Even for the
young guys who didn’t know him,
Demitri has blessed them to bring
them closer to us. He continues to
help this team out, and it’s a won
derful thing.”