Football player's parents wear combat boots

Michigan DB Channing Stribling's mind never far from mother serving in Afghanistan 
The Detroit News
Angelique S. Chengelis
December 26, 2013

Michigan defensive back Channing Stribling worries about his Army mother's safety.
(John T. Greilick / Detroit News)

Scottsdale, Ariz. — Late in the season, there was a change in Channing Stribling.

Clearly, his coaches and teammates realized, he was distracted.

The Michigan freshman defensive back, recently turned 19, is always in regular contact with his mother, Sonjay, a captain in the U.S. Army serving in Afghanistan, but during the week before the Ohio State game, he didn’t hear from her.

She only recently has returned to the U.S. after eight months overseas.

“He’s a young kid and people don’t realize, his mom was serving in the service, and she was gone, and he didn’t hear from her,” Michigan defensive coordinator Greg Mattison said this week as the Wolverines continue preparations for the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl on Saturday night. “And now she’s back home, you can see this guy is the same guy we had earlier.”

For Stribling, it was a challenge to not panic about his mother, especially because he could never initiate phone communication with her. She could only call him.

“It was a hard situation, mom being in Afghanistan and having to think about her every day, so trying to focusing on football is kind of hard,” Stribling said. “I’d focus on my mom. If she didn’t give me a call that week, I’d be worried.”

This is not Stribling’s first experience having a parent serve overseas. His father, Dennis, also is a member of the Army. He was stationed in Korea during his son’s final high school season at Butler High in North Carolina.

“I’m getting used to it,” Stribling said. “It is hard. Since I was younger they’ve always been gone.”

His parents are in Arizona for the bowl game, although his father will have to return overseas in a few months.
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