On Oct. 7, 2013, Andre Cornell’s life changed forever.
That’s when his longtime girlfriend, Jessika Salem, gave birth to a baby girl, Mya Kaliah. Fortunately for Cornell, he was in town to witness the birth. That’s no small feat considering Cornell is a starting senior cornerback at Montana Tech, a NAIA program in Butte.
“We had a game on Oct. 5 in Oregon, and a bye week after that, so everything worked out perfectly,” said Cornell, a former San Benito High standout. “It’s harder being away from home with a daughter now, but I know my girlfriend has everything handled. I’m just working hard so I can live out a dream and provide for my family in the future.”
The 6-foot-1, 185-pound Cornell grew up playing for the Hollister Vikings Pop Warner team, where he dazzled onlookers as a elusive and quick running back. At San Benito, Cornell was dynamic after the catch, eluding a number of would-be tacklers with shifty moves in the open field.
Cornell played his freshman year of junior college football at Gavilan, finishing with a team-best 34 receptions and five touchdowns. Cornell then sat out the 2011 season before transferring to Monterey Peninsula College, where he switched from receiver to cornerback.
“The decision was all on me,” he said. “We were in spring ball and we had a lot of depth at receiver and not much at corner, so I started taking reps at corner one day and took off from there. I was always told through Pop Warner and high school that I’d end up playing defense one day, but I didn’t believe it. I still miss catching the ball, but it all worked out in the end.”
Indeed, Cornell said he’s talked to a couple of NFL scouts, and the dream of playing professionally isn’t totally out of the question. Cornell had a productive junior season at Montana Tech, finishing with four interceptions despite missing three games because of a torn right meniscus midway through the season.
Cornell was supposed to miss the rest of the season, but he was determined to come back and play. And that’s exactly what Cornell did, as he played in the final two games once the swelling in his knee went down. A couple of months after the season was over, Cornell underwent surgery.
“People tell me they still don’t know how I did it,” Cornell said. “I don’t like missing games at all, and coming back was just something I had to do.”
It’s that dogged determination that has gotten Cornell through moments of adversity, whether it was “struggling growing up in small places” or learning from his own mistakes as a youth.
“I was kind of a knucklehead through high school,” he said. “I ended up being home-schooled during the second semester of my junior year, but was able to come back for my senior year and have a strong season. I don’t take anything for granted.”
Cornell calls his mom, Brenda Medina, his best friend, and also credited his grandparents, Marissa Segovia and Fred Medina, for helping shape his identity. Growing up without his biological father, Cornell looked up to Fred as the male role model in his life. In fact, Cornell’s love for his grandfather is so immense that he’s never called Fred grandpa, only dad.
“He introduced me to football, and thanks to him and my mom and grandma, they’re the reason why I’m playing the game today,” Cornell said. “They give me inspiration and hope.”
Perhaps that’s why Cornell ended up in Montana after his sophomore year at Monterey Peninsula College.
“Coming out of MPC, I wanted to stay local and that if I didn’t get any opportunities to play locally, I wouldn’t go out of state,” he said. “But something told me I just had to keep going.”
Michigan Tech and Carroll College in Montana expressed interest initially, but when Montana Tech got wind of the news, it offered a scholarship first, Cornell said. Everything has turned out well for Cornell, who also returns kickoffs and plays wide receiver when the team does something out of the ordinary from the playbook. Cornell counts everyday as a blessing, especially since he became a father.
“Life has changed a lot in a good way,” he said. “I’m really thankful it happened for my girlfriend and I, and I think about them all the time.”
