For Louis Timmins, soon-to-be member of both the Tufts men's football and lacrosse teams, the idea of playing two sports in college was never too far-off of a fantasy.
“I didn’t exactly think it was impossible," he said. "When I started playing club lacrosse I thought that was going to be what I was going to do in college, but then at the start of quarantine recruiting picked up … and mostly football schools were talking to me … I narrowed it down to those schools where I could play both [football and lacrosse],” Timmins said.
Timmins’ interest in sports predates his successful athletic career at Boston College High School: His dad was an avid basketball player who encouraged Timmins to play with him when he was young.
“I started playing football and lacrosse in fourth grade and I’ve always played basketball since I was really little,” he said. “When I was younger I was always doing something with sports, so yeah, I’d say most of my life I’ve been an athlete.”
Timmins played basketball until his sophomore year of high school, when he stopped to focus on football and lacrosse. It was then that he started to take college recruitment more seriously, and the notion of playing both collegiate sports soon entered the realm of possibility.
“My junior football season went really well and I got a lot of interest for football that I was not expecting,” Timmins said.
While COVID-19 impacted the recruitment processes for many athletes, Timmins was lucky enough to have spoken with Tufts men’s lacrosse coachCasey D’Annolfo (LA’06) and Tufts men’s football coach Jay Civetti before restrictions were imposed in March 2020.
“I visited a lot of schools before any seasons got called off and visits got halted. I went to Tufts in February, so I had already talked to coach D’Annolfo and coach Civetti," he said. "It sort of impacted me because I didn’t have a wide range of schools that I was talking to, probably because I wasn't able to play in front of a bunch of people during the summer, but I was kind of fortunate to have already had relationships with a lot of coaches before everything got shut down."
Many schools have had toreduce the number of spots available to high school prospects due to many athletes’ gaining another year of eligibility.
To stay fit and inspired during the pandemic, Timmins has used a small gym in his basement. “The trainer at school gave me a bunch of stuff to do and gave me a list of stuff I had already been doing … By the time everything got shut down, I was able to go to fields and play football and lacrosse or do conditioning," he said. "I didn’t really miss out on a whole lot of training but it was just a little tougher not being around kids. It’s a lot more enjoyable to work hard with teammates."
Athletic talent and a penchant for Tufts runs in Timmins' family. Beyond his father’s affinity for basketball, his brother Stephen Timmins (LA’20) played on the Tufts men’s football team after graduating from Boston College High School, where he had played football, basketball and lacrosse. Louis’ familial connection to Tufts gave him the opportunity to talk to other athletes, especially those who played more than one sport, such as his brother’s roommate and coach D’Annolfo.
As a former three-sport Tufts athlete, D’Annolfo was able to comfort Timmins about the reality of playing more than one sport in college.
“I talked to kids who went there and it seemed like doing two sports was doable, and obviously both teams have done well in recent years," Timmins said. "It seemed like the right fit for me to go to two successful teams. A lot of people said it was doable to play two sports, so I thought Tufts was the place to be."
Timmins is enthusiastic about getting to know new people at Tufts, stating that he wants to “build really, really strong bonds with kids.” He said his brother told him that having 50 friends from his team was "one of the most enjoyable things he's done in college."
Beyond the Tufts athletic world, he is excited to talk to students from different backgrounds.
Outside of playing sports, Timmins is an NFL fanatic, though he enjoys watching hockey and basketball as well.
“Sunday is the only time of the weekend I’m sitting on the couch for eight hours straight," Timmins said. "Watching the Pats get beat up on this season was tough."
Timmins is one of many Tufts recruits who has had his final years of high school competition interrupted, but next year, the local athlete will be driving up the road to Medford, ready to embark on a busy (and hopefully uninterrupted) collegiate athletic career.
