Trey Zvonar plays with a chip on his shoulder that Miami of Ohio likes

Lincoln-Way East tight end Trey Zvonar was in a unique situation when it came to his recruiting.

His father, Lincoln-Way East head coach Rob Zvonar, had gone through literally hundreds of recruiting conversations with schools far and wide in placing his program’s athletes at various levels of the collegiate game.

But it’s a little different when that recruitment involves your own son.

“It was funny how often I had my dad hat on instead of my coach hat,” Rob Zvonar said. “We were very realistic [with] his measurables in terms of his size and speed all that. You know, he wasn’t necessarily a Power Five recruit, right, because of his measurables. These kids are 6-6, 240 pounds and running like the wind. So we truly respected that in the process.”

That process took the Zvonars across the country trying to find the right fit, but the entire family was uniform in what they wanted the end result to be, a result they believed they’ve found with Trey’s commitment to reigning Mid-American Conference champion Miami of Ohio.

“We were looking for three main things,” Trey said. “We were looking for locker room culture, academics and then obviously great football and great people to send off to, since growing up in a football family, that’s what I’m used to. And Miami just kind of had it all with having a great academics, a great school to go to, and then obviously they won the MAC last year, so they are doing very well in football.”

Trey believes he makes up for his lack of prototypical tight end size by using his aggressiveness and playing with a chip on his shoulder.

“A lot of schools like my aggressiveness and my blocking, because that’s what I’ve built my game off of the last two years, and also becoming more of a route runner,” he said. “I just have to keep building the route running, and obviously I’m not a 6-foot-7 guy, so keep going at 6-foot-3 with a chip on my shoulder ... and I should be able to play with anyone even though I’m not the tallest one out there.”

The process also led to some interesting scenarios on the recruiting trail.

“Having my dad involved, he was was very helpful,” Trey said. “I know there are other guys in other situations where maybe they aren’t as close with their coaches and they are kind of recruiting on their own. But there was a few times where I’d get calls from different coaches, and they were like, ‘We’re going to call your coach, too.’ And I’d be like, ‘He’s right here, he’s my dad.’

“That made it pretty easy.”

Former Lincoln-Way East kicker Dominic Dzioban is a senior on this year’s Redhawks’ roster, and his experience gave the Zvonar family even more confidence that Miami was the right place.

“Every place was awesome, right? It just so happened, you know, sometimes you get that gut feeling that this is home, and Miami University just at the end of the day is where he felt most at home and they embraced him,” Rob Zvonar said. “We really respect their culture, in terms of a little bit like Iowa, where it’s contagious, they tell you the truth, and they coach hard, and it’s very demanding and high expectations but yet, they are tremendous men of character.”