FREMONT — Joey Evans is a 6-foot-5 forward on Midland University's men's basketball team, and he's ready to give up one athletic scholarship for another.
This fall, the Millard West alum hopes to be one of the first students at Midland to get a scholarship to compete in the university's newest varsity event: eSports.
That's right. Video games.
It's a growing arena for collegiate competition -- one in which the Big Ten Network will sponsor an exhibition between Ohio State and Michigan State later this year -- and it's a dream come true for a lifelong gamer like Evans.
"My dad was a huge Super Mario Bros. fan when we were growing up," he said. "We had just about any system you can think of, and we spent an insane amount of money on video games."
The passion is paying off for more and more college students across the country, including students in Nebraska for the very first time.
Evans helped revive Midland's club for video gamers earlier this year as a way to connect serious and casual players in a community event on campus every Monday.
About a month after the club launched, Evans said Midland's vice president for student affairs, Merritt Nelson, called him to talk about elevating the club to Midland's 28th varsity sport.
Soon, Evans was discussing eSports with Midland President Jody Horner and the university's board of directors.
"I told them the sooner you jump on it, the better it's going to be," he said. "It's insane how fast it's growing, and I believe within 5-10 years, every school in the nation is going to have a team of some kind."
Robert Morris University in Chicago started offering scholarships for eSports in 2014, and since then, teams have been organized at San Jose State University, Harvard University, Florida State University and the University of California, Irvine, among others.
The most popular game played at the collegiate level is "League of Legends," a multiplayer, real-time strategy game in which players control a champion with unique abilities and work with teammates to achieve an objective against an opposing team.
Evans said much of the game's popularity centers on its constant evolution, which requires players to develop new strategies and take new approaches every few weeks.
Released online in 2009, "League of Legends" has 67 million players worldwide, while some 36 million people watched the 2015 world championship game online, according to publisher Riot Games.
Midland hopes to attract top League of Legends players to join its team for the 2016-17 season, offering the equivalent of athletic scholarships and free room and board for the fall semester to applicants accepted on the team by June 30.
The university has appointed an interim coach while it searches for a full-time, professional coach who will lead the team and recruit top players.
President Horner said adding eSports to Midland's athletic department isn't just about paying students to play video games all day.
"We're interested in competing, obviously, but more importantly, we're interested in giving students a quality education and connecting our students with their passion," said Horner, who became Midland's 16th president this year.
Providing scholarships to the top competitors gives added incentives for students to come to a school with a growing information technology and computer science program, said Evans, who spends up to six hours a day playing the game.
"A lot of people don't necessarily excel in athletics or the arts, but they are very good at video games," he said. "There's more to it than what you see at first glance -- these kids are learning communication and teamwork, too."
"It's developing skills that will carry on well into the future."
Source: Midland offering video game scholarships
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