On Guard Together
When the Central Michigan University football team travels for road games, a fair amount of bonding between team members takes place.
But no bond on the 2014 squad is stronger than the one shared by senior Andy Phillips and junior Ramadan Ahmeti – two offensive linemen who specialize in stuffing linebackers and keeping each other entertained in the process.
Ahmeti’s bellowing laugh can be heard down the hall at the team’s hotel after any given Chippewas road victory. He and his best friend stay up well past curfew.
“We room together during away games. He cracks me up all night,” said Ahmeti.
Phillips has seen his fellow Lansing Waverly graduate at his best and worst moments.
“My favorite part about him is his different personalities,” Phillips joked. “90 percent of the time he’s he happiest person I know, but you don’t want to catch him when he’s in a bad mood. I like that about him.”
High school best friends playing Division I football together is not something you see everyday.
It is a relationship that both men have shared for longer than any other two members on the team.
“We met playing football,” Phillips said. “(Ramadan) started out on the junior varsity team and by the end of the season he was up to varsity with me. Just from there we kind of grew a friendship in the weight-room and in the offseason.”
Both linemen considered committing to a school other than CMU as they finished their high school careers.
The choices available between them included The University of Michigan, Michigan State University, University of Wisconsin and Notre Dame.
The Detroit Free Press listed both Phillips and Ahmeti in the top forty on their Fab 50 list of recruits at the end of their senior seasons.
The Detroit News included both men on the all-state blue chip list coming out of Waverly High School.
The pair of linemen each say that they appreciate the less-than-usual time they have spent together both on and off the field.
“Just playing D1 football is amazing,” Ahmeti said. “But playing with one of my best friends and playing right next to him at the same position is pretty unique. That doesn’t happen too often.”
CMU offensive line coach Butch Barry said Phillips and Ahmeti are the two of the closest teammate he has ever been around.
“You’re looking at a nine-year relationship going on,” Barry said. “The communication level is exactly where you want it. They have a unique way of pushing each other.”
CMU was the first team to offer Ahmeti a scholarship following his junior year.
With Phillips already in Mount Pleasant, Ahmeti said his friend at the program was not the only reason he decided on the Maroon and Gold uniform.
“I wasn’t going to let him being here be the deciding factor,” Ahmeti said. “I wanted to go somewhere I would be happy and make that decision on what I wanted to do.”
The duo did not keep their friendly competition to the gridiron during their times at Waverly.
“We grew our friendship playing sports like track and basketball,” Phillips said.
Four years later, Phillips was named CMU’s Offensive Upfront Player of the Year. His streak of consecutive games started now stands at 35.
Last season, Ahmeti was given his first chance to start alongside Phillips against at UNLV on September 14, 2013.
Phillips said it was at that moment he knew not much was needed in terms of adjustments playing together.
“We had immediate chemistry that usually takes a while to grow,” Phillips said. “It has a lot to do with how close we are. We can be hard on each other but at the same time we expect so much out of the other person. We always have each other’s back.”
