If there's a more focused men's basketball player than Ball State University senior guard Peyton Stovall, he can feel free to step forward.
Stovall's eyes remain trained on his target at all times. On offense, it's on the basket. On defense, it's on the man he's guarding or the zone to which he's assigned.
After each of his baskets, though, Stovall allows himself a slight moment of levity. He kisses his fist, then pounds it softly into his chest while getting back on defense.
"It's for my family and also my girlfriend," he said. "It's for my loved ones and fans, too."
Few college athletes have had to keep their focus through more adversity than Stovall.
Since the end of the 2004-05 regular season, Stovall tore ligaments in his left knee twice. He missed an entire season. He has played for three different coaches. He has played with 21 different teammates in the last two seasons. And he has been the face of perhaps Ball State basketball's most infamous off-season.
Yet through it all, two things remained constant for Stovall. His love for the community he lives in is one. And if a Ball State Daily News poll last fall naming him the school's most popular athlete is any indication, the community's love for him right back is another.
"Ball State is in my blood," Stovall said. "The minute I stepped out on the court in that jersey, I knew I never wanted to leave."
The senior guard is in Atlanta as one of five finalists for the John Wooden Citizenship Cup, an award presented to one amateur athlete each year. Stovall is Ball State's first finalist for the honor, as well as being the school's first finalist, along with women's basketball forward Julie DeMuth, for the Lowe's Senior C.L.A.S.S. Award, presented to one senior player in each sport.
Despite being rated a three-star recruit on a five-star scale out of high school in his hometown of Lafayette, Stovall received little interest from his hometown Purdue University. Instead, he chose Ball State instead of other mid-major schools.
"It was really close to home," Stovall said. "I'm a family-oriented guy, so the opportunity for them to travel to my games, I didn't want to miss that. The coaching staff at that time was really good. It was an easy choice for me."
It didn't take long for Stovall to receive fans at Ball State. Perhaps his biggest is Ball State basketball sports information director Chris Taylor.
"His freshman year, we were riding the bus on an away trip," Taylor said. "We just started talking about some of his beliefs and his values. It just clicked. He's kind of like the brother that I never had. It's really hard to describe how close we've become."
Out of that friendship grew a pregame tradition. Since his freshman year, Stovall has walked up to Taylor minutes before the tip-off of each game. Taylor then presents Stovall with a drink. The drink is a Pepsi if the Cardinals won the previous game, a Sprite if they lost. The tradition is identical to one employed by Indiana Pacers' great Reggie Miller, a player Stovall admires, and their information director.
"It's something to get me ready and focused for the game," Stovall said. "We told them, actually. We got a picture with them and everything."
Stovall said Miller and himself are a lot alike in their demeanors.
"Reggie's a funny guy," Stovall said, laughing. "He's so serious on the court. That's how I am. When I'm off the court, I'm just as goofy as anybody else."
After two successful and relatively uneventful seasons with the Cardinals, Stovall's career took an unexpected turn when he suffered his first injury to his left knee in the 2005 Mid-American Conference tournament.
"I remember the knee injury," Taylor said. "I walked into the locker room at halftime, and we both kind of knew it was a serious injury."
Although he successfully came back to start the 2005-2006 season, Stovall reinjured the knee in the second game of the year and missed the remainder of the season.
The Cardinals went 10-18 that year and after the season, Tim Buckley, the coach who recruited Stovall to Ball State, was removed.
"It was kind of a father-son relationship," Stovall said of Buckley. "He taught me a lot of things and helped me grow as a man and as a basketball player."
Stovall had a trying junior season under his new coach Ronny Thompson. For the first time since his freshman year, Stovall found himself on the bench for six games as he attempted to come back from an injury he later said didn't fully heal until after the season was done. Ball State suffered the most losses in its history that season, going 9-22. Stovall averaged a career-low 8.8 points per game.
"It was tough," Stovall said. "My confidence was low at that time because of my knee injury. I think it helped me become stronger."
After Thompson resigned in July amid a wave of controversy, calling the school a "racially hostile environment," it was Stovall, as the lone senior Cardinal, who served as the program's ambassador through interviews with national sportswriters. He was outspoken in his belief that Muncie was not hostile. Rather, he said Thompson was the hostile one, stating the coach expressed his distrust of white people to his then all-black team.
Stovall, who at the time called the saga "disappointing," said he was motivated to speak out because of his love for the community.
"It's been an honor to be at Ball State," Stovall said. "Speaking out, I was showing my appreciation for everything they've done for me the last five years."
Taylor said he and Stovall had plenty of discussions about the extent to which the senior would discuss the Thompson era.
"We talked a lot about that," Taylor said. "The bottom line for all of us was to say what you believe. I certainly believe Peyton Stovall."
After Billy Taylor, who is no relation to Chris Taylor, was hired as the Cardinals' coach in August, it didn't take long for him and his senior captain to get on the same page.
"I had an opportunity to meet Peyton right before the [introductory] press conference," coach Taylor said. "Two things stand out. First, he has a great personality. He's got a terrific smile. He comes across in a very likable way. The second thing is, he has tremendous values. He's a great person to be around."
Stovall said he sees in Taylor the same mentoring ability he saw in Buckley.
"I'm seeing that same thing with these younger guys," Stovall said. "It's a good thing to have as a coach."
The coach, who has referred to Stovall as a coach on the floor, said his captain is a great leader.
"With his experience and his talent, he is able to communicate the key messages for our team on the floor," Taylor said. "He's figured out what it is we value as a program."
Stovall's senior season hasn't resulted in the win total he likely would have hoped for. However, he takes an optimistic outlook.
"My season started on Dec. 31st," Stovall said. "We're 3-2 [through Saturday]. That's my record right now."
The community's appreciation for Stovall hasn't gone away despite the trying times.
The senior traditionally receives the loudest ovation of any Cardinal when the Ball State starting lineups are introduced at home. Further, after Ball State's loss to Western Michigan University on Jan. 16, J.D. Hamilton, an NCAA representative in town for the game, congratulated Stovall for being what he called a great role model for student-athletes.
And after his return to his hometown, when the Cardinals played Purdue in December, he received special mention from the Boilermakers' coach, Matt Painter, who was not with the school when Stovall was recruited, after Ball State's 70-57 loss.
"Peyton was a mid-major player when he went to Ball State," Painter said Dec. 4. "With improvement and work ethic, he is now a high-major player. And he has substance. You can never have enough of that."
Stovall, who double majored in sports administration and marketing, graduated from Ball State in December. He said he wants to continue playing basketball and also has the goal of one day starting a charitable foundation to fight cancer.
"I'd love to give back to that kind of cause," Stovall said. "One of my best friends, Carl Abrons, passed away when we were in high school, so I'd love to do something like that."
The senior guard said he enjoys spending time with children in the community, which he does at local churches and elementary schools as a tutor and mentor.
"I especially love the kids," Stovall said. "We have a lot of fun. The community's always been so good to us that I want to try and give back to them as much as they give to me."
Few people know as well as Chris Taylor how much Stovall has changed since his arrival at Ball State. Taylor has said Stovall is the best athlete he's worked with in his career.
"I've been around college athletics and been a sports fan for a while," Taylor said. "The stuff he has gone through, there probably aren't many people in athletics who could have handled it the way that he did."
Taylor said the best way to describe Stovall is his tendency to enter the postgame press conference dressed in a suit and tie.
"Sometimes I'm sitting with a teammate and they'll still be in their uniform," Taylor said. "I've thought several times: Wow, it's like Peyton Stovall's our coach. It's instant respect."
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