Minnesota Duluth's Tobias Lemke Chases American Dream With German Accent

Tobias Lemke, a native of Germany, plans to chase his American Dream one day. But, at the moment, Lemke is dreaming repeat. Make elbow room on the national stage, please. The Florida Gators are not the only college football team chasing consecutive national titles.

Lemke and the defending NCAA Division II football champion Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs open preseason practice Saturday.

"Last season was something I will never forget, especially knowing where we were coming from," Lemke told FanHouse. "It was so much fun. Playing for the national title, being catered to at that level, coming back into town -- this is a big hockey town -- and just seeing how were able to win over the community and the students. I wouldn't mind doing it all over again."

The Bulldogs were one of the nation's best football stories in 2008.

They won their first NCAA Division II championship in any sport, beating Northwest Missouri State 21-14 in Florence, Ala. They were also the first team from Minnesota and the Northern Sun Collegiate Conference to win a Division II football title, this after going 4-6 in the now-defunct North Central Conference in 2007. The conference was forced to disband after two of its seven members, North Dakota and South Dakota, left to go to Division I.

Technically, UMD finished 15-0 shorthanded. While the NCAA allows Division II football programs to have 36 scholarships, the Bulldogs are permitted 24 under their conference rules. And, if that wasn't enough, hockey has seemingly always been the mainstay for collegiate athletics at Minnesota Duluth, a history that tracks to 1930.

In fact, Lemke, the Bulldogs' returning center and one of three senior captains, worked this summer in the school's weight room as a strength coach for youth hockey camps.

"It seems like everybody here plays hockey," said Lemke, 23, who was born and raised in Essen, Germany and --- no -- doesn't play hockey.

"I love this place. Our summers in Germany don't get hot and our winters don't get cold, so I definitely had to get used to the weather. It seems if the snow starts in October and doesn't stop until May. But there's a lot of fun stuff to do and watch - hockey, ice fishing, skating."

Football, too.

Honestly, Lemke never figured his athletic career would include football. He played soccer, volleyball and handball in Germany, where his parents -- mom is a social worker and dad is a chemist -- continue to live. Lemke says he "stumbled across club football" as a 14-year-old and immediately fell in love. Always big and sturdy for his age, Lemke, now at 6 feet 4, 280 pounds, chuckles and says, "The coaches were happy to see me. They took one look and said, OK, offensive line."

Lemke found a new sport -- and a new home.

Lemke attended White Bear Lake (Minn.) High School, north of Saint Paul, in 2002-03 as a foreign exchange student and competed with the Bears junior varsity football team. After Lemke returned to Germany, he finished high school and played with the Dusseldorf Panthers of the German Football League (juniors). That's when Lemke decided he wanted to return to the United States and play college football.

With the help of one of his club coaches, Lemke mailed his highlight tape to a number of Midwest colleges, including Minnesota Duluth. The Bulldogs were smitten, and Lemke is believed to be the second European to join the Bulldog football program since fellow German Jens Klenner, a linebacker, played in 2000.

German football isn't for slouches.

Sebastian Vollmer was one of the most intriguing stories in the 2009 NFL Draft. Vollmer, who was born in Kaarst, Germany, didn't start playing football until he was 14 years old but sill helped his German prep school win two national championships. He starred at the University of Houston and was a second-round selection of the New England Patriots.

"The league and my coaches really prepared me for college," Lemke said.

Lemke has made the most of his time, too, playing right guard as a freshman in 2006 and working his way into the starting lineup at center the following year as a sophomore. His prowess, however, has not been limited to just the football field.

Lemke was the football team's co-representative on UMD's Athletic Academic Support List for maintaining the best overall grade point average (3.97) of any Bulldog during the 2007-08 school year. He also earned NCC All-Academic Team recognition and a spot on the 2007 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District V Team.

Lemke will soon earn a double major in political science and criminal justice and his plan is to secure a master's degree in criminology with a future in law enforcement.

"I can always go back to Europe but I want to see if I can make my American Dream come true," Lemke said.

That particular dream will have to wait for the time being.

More than 100 players are expected for the Bulldogs' opening preseason practice Saturday, and Lemke can't wait to get started. UMD, which returns 11 starters and is ranked third nationally in The Sporting News Division II Preseason Top 25, will take the nation's longest winning streak - 16 games over two seasons -- into its opener against rival Concordia University-St. Paul Aug. 29.

"Last year we realized how good we could be when we played together as a team and it never stopped," Lemke said.

"When we got to the championship game, we got together and told each other we had come this far, we might as well win it. It was a great experience. We've had a great summer, too. About 70 guys stayed in town and worked out, so that's going to help. Everyone is getting antsy to get started. We have some gaps to fill but we also bring a lot of experience back on the line.

"It's going to be fun to see if we can do it all over again."