For Stephen Leinen, the journey to Dordt University started with a friendship, a few recruiting visits and a desire to find a college that offered the right combination of football, academics and faith. Now a senior from Harlan, Iowa, Leinen is preparing for life after college with a degree in agriculture, plans to pursue a career in agronomy and a new engagement to celebrate.

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His four years at Dordt have also given him something more difficult to measure: personal growth, lasting friendships and a deeper understanding of what it means to be part of a team.

Leinen first learned about Dordt through his friendship with Eli Boldan, a former Dordt wide receiver. During Leinen's sophomore year of high school, Dordt assistant coach Lynn Nutt began recruiting him, and the process included several campus visits, spring football games and a summer camp.

As he reflects on those conversations from a few years ago, Leinen said he has come to appreciate how closely the program's actions align with its message.

"They really do practice what they preach," Leinen said. "I come to find that out as I'm now a senior in the program, that they're very heavy on building men in the program and setting the industry standard of where we're at."

Dordt also offered two important pieces of the college decision for Leinen. At about two hours from Harlan, it provided a reasonable distance from home while offering an agriculture program that matched his career interests. The university's Christian environment was another significant draw.

"I really wanted to be in ag, and the faith aspect is amazing here," Leinen said.

Leinen's path to becoming a college kicker began in a much less formal setting. His neighbors across the street were high school kickers, and he decided to ask them to teach him how to kick.

The following weekend, they headed to a field and began working on it.

His background as a soccer goalkeeper helped provide a foundation. Goal kicks and penalty kicks had already developed his leg strength, but he began focusing more deliberately on the technical aspects of kicking during his sophomore year of high
school, when he attended camps run by Kohl's Professional Camps.

Those experiences helped him understand the mechanics behind a successful kick and the importance of refining small details.

At Dordt, Leinen has learned that kicking requires patience, preparation and the ability to be ready when an opportunity arrives. While a kicker might spend much of a game on the sideline, the mental preparation begins before the coaching staff calls for him.

"Once it hits second down, you kind of start thinking in your head, like, all right, yep, I've got to get going here," Leinen said.

That preparation includes considering the distance, the hash mark and the wind. Before a game, Leinen talks with his coaches about the distances he feels comfortable attempting under different conditions.

Those conversations help establish expectations before the pressure of a game situation arrives.

When everything comes together, the result can be especially satisfying.

Leinen compares the feeling of striking a football perfectly to making solid contact with a baseball bat.

"It's like if you ever play baseball, just hitting it right in the meat of the bat," he said. "You can feel it in your hands of just, 'Oh yeah, I crushed it.'"

When he makes that kind of contact with his foot, Leinen said he often knows the kick is good before he even looks up. His first reaction is to celebrate with his holder.

But he is quick to recognize that a successful kick is a team effort. The long snapper must deliver the ball accurately, the holder must get it down in time, and the kicker must execute his part of the operation.

Leinen has worked with several long snappers and holders during his Dordt career, including Blade Koons, Connor Stephens and Isaac Kacmarynski.

"Those guys I can't do it without," Leinen said. "They really make the special teams in the PAT and field goal what it is."

The relationships developed through those special teams units are one part of the broader team culture that Leinen values. He describes Dordt football as a group that competes fiercely while maintaining strong friendships and a shared commitment to
one another.

"I would say that it's a God-honoring, industry-standard football team where we set the bar at our level and that we compete fiercely," Leinen said. "The guys on the team, there's nothing like it. We have such good camaraderie."

While football has provided a prominent part of his college experience, Leinen has also kept his focus on preparing for a career in agriculture.

He hopes to become an agronomist, working with farmers to help them make decisions about their operations. The career would also allow him to contribute to his family's farming operation near Harlan, where corn and soybeans are grown in rotation.

For Leinen, the opportunity to help farmers make informed decisions and remain connected to his family's agricultural roots makes agronomy an appealing direction after graduation.

He also has another important part of his future taking shape.

Following Dordt's game at Concordia earlier this season, Leinen had an especially memorable weekend. He contributed extra points and a long field goal to close the first half, then had another significant moment the next day when he proposed to his girlfriend, Thea Bergman.

She said yes, and the couple is now engaged and beginning to consider what comes next. Bergman is an education major, so their plans will include finding a place where she can teach and Leinen can begin his career in agronomy.

The engagement adds another milestone to a senior year already filled with reflection and anticipation. As graduation approaches, Leinen is looking beyond the football field while remaining focused on finishing his college career with the Defenders.

When asked to describe the past four years at Dordt, he settled on one word: growth.

He said the changes have been evident in his faith, his personal development and his understanding of what it means to be part of a team. The football program's emphasis on building men has been especially meaningful as he compares his freshman-year self with the person he has become as a senior.

"I have just taken step by step, growing in my faith, growing in who I am," Leinen said. "I think from me as a freshman to me as a senior, it's just completely different."