ELON, N.C. – The adult world can be intimidating. Graduation forces young adults to take a leap of faith and some college athletes to leave their sport behind, as only a select few make it to the big stage to play the sport they love professionally.
As several of his Elon football teammates declare for the 2024 NFL Draft or announce other future career endeavors, Bo Sanders is taking a different approach. After hearing good reviews from former Elon teammate Joey Baughman, Sanders is taking his talents across the globe to the Italian city of Ancona to play in the Italian Football League.
"He said it was a great time and I like to have great times," Sanders said. "I'm going over there to play football, and travel Europe a little bit, get to know the culture and get to know the people."
Facing the end of his five-year career with the Phoenix, Sanders did not want to pass up this once in a lifetime opportunity to play professional football. Not ready to hang up his cleats just yet, Sanders signed his contract to play with the Ancona Dolphins shortly after the conclusion of Elon's season.
"They reached out to me to see if I'd be interested, and I said, 'Give me some time to think about it,'" Sanders said. "I signed the contract the week after the season because I wanted to know what I was doing. I didn't want to sit around and not have a plan."
Understanding that this may be his last shot to pursue his childhood dream of playing professional football, Sanders put stepping into the adult world on hold.
"I think I realized, OK, I'm not going to be able to play football forever," Sanders said. "I've always wanted to go to Europe, so having an opportunity to do it, I said, yeah, I could get a job if I wanted to, but I'm going to play the season over there and enjoy it."
With only limited international travel experience, Sanders is ready to fully embrace Italian culture. Whether it's the food, beautiful views or meeting new people, he's prepared to take full advantage of this experience.
"I'm kind of going in blind so we'll figure it out as it goes, and I have no problem with that," Sanders said. "They said I'm going to love it, so I'm looking forward to it."
After making a deep playoff run to the league's semifinals last year, Sanders hopes to be the missing piece to the puzzle for the Dolphins to win the IFL championship next season.
"I know they have big expectations," Sanders said. "They need someone that's going to get them to the championship and that's going to get them over the hump. Hopefully, I can be that guy to get them there and just do my job, make a difference and finally get a championship."
The Dolphins kick off their season this spring and will face eight different opponents as they look to capitalize on their recent playoff run.
"They saw something in me and they believed in me and my ability," Sanders said. "I'm a Dolphin for life now."
'Rising Phoenix' is a new student-led initiative to cover Elon Athletics. Through innovative content creation and storytelling, Elon University students will have the opportunity to highlight the moments, people and events that make an impact, leveraging the athletic department's various web and social media platforms for distribution. Follow Rising Phoenix on Twitter (@EURisingPhoenix) and Instagram (@elonrisingphoenix). Interested in joining this initiative as a content creator (video, graphics, writing, storytelling, or more)? Contact Jacob Kisamore at jkisamore@elon.edu.
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