Simply put, Mike Neville is non-traditional in more ways than one.

As a 26-year-old student majoring in General Studies, Neville enrolled at Southeastern in the Fall of 2007 and after earning a spot on the Dean's List, is currently on pace to complete his Bachelor's degree in May 2009. But his personal journey for much of the past decade, that included a Mormon mission and two years of playing football at the junior college level, places him in another non-traditional role – a Division I quarterback.

Of the 228 schools that competed in Division I in 2007, there were approximately a dozen players that were the same age as the native Californian.

Neville's eventual journey to south Louisiana and major college football began one year after graduating high school when he left his close-knit home in the Bay Area for a two-year mission in the Brazilian coastal town of Florianopolis. After completing his mission, he returned home and, just like his three older brothers, would enroll at Solano Community College, where he would became an all-conference quarterback.

But after mulling through some potential scholarship offers from schools in New York and southern California, Neville decided to head to Brigham Young University and a program steeped with a rich quarterback tradition dating back to the Lavell Edwards' days of the early 1970's. Already accepted into the University and invited to join the team as a walk-on, Neville was set for his trip to Provo when he got a call – and a Division I scholarship offer from Southeastern.

“I talked with my brothers about the experiences that they had and they told me to consider coming here, where I would have a lot of opportunities that I wouldn't be able to experience and a lot of people that I wouldn't get to meet,” Neville said. “I thought about it (coming to Southeastern) and jumped at the opportunity … I thought this would be a great place to be.”

Arriving with the rest of the team in August, Neville needed time to pick up the offensive scheme being employed by new offensive coordinator Tommy Condell. Buried on the depth chart behind starter Brian Babin and not getting the necessary repetitions in practice at quarterback, the coaching staff decided to utilize Neville's running skills. Neville made his debut – as a running back – in the Lions' home opener against Kentucky Wesleyan, before making the shift back to quarterback mid-way through the season.

And after seeing his playing time increase over the course of the 2007 season, with his best performance coming in Southeastern's season-finale against arch-rival Nicholls State, Neville is enjoying the college life and is looking forward to his final year in a green and gold uniform.

“It's been a great experience here at Southeastern,” Neville, whose goal is to play professionally before embarking on a career as a firefighter, said. “It's been the only University that I've attended and I love it here. There's a lot of different people here and the education is great. The professors are excellent in preparing us for the real world and the coaching staff here is incredible.

“Southeastern has a lot of good things in store and has a lot of potential,” Neville said. “As far as what I've seen, Southeastern's only going to get better … and bigger.”