Alex Findura cuts an imposing figure. He has the stature of a man who uses his body for work. His 250-some pounds are suspended from his 6-foot-5 frame in the type of inverted triangle that makes strangers wonder exactly what it is he does for a living.He used to love that question.Findura spent a little more than a year playing on the defensive line under Bill Curry at Georgia State before enlisting in the Marines in 2012. During boot camp, he was selected to be a part of the Body Bearers -- an elite unit responsible for carrying caskets to graves in Arlington National Cemetery.For the last four years his days had started at 4 a.m. on the bottom floor of a parking garage at the corner of Eighth and I streets in Washington D.C. Thats where he and a dozen other bulked-up Marines trained to carry coffins that typically weighed between 700 and 1,500 pounds. The branchs tradition is to carry the fallen at shoulder height, above the heart, as a sign of respect. The men selected for this honor are screened for upper body strength and a stoic temperament.Findura estimates he put more than 200 active-duty Marines in the ground over the course of four years in the service, almost one a week. He buried a four-star general, a Medal of Honor recipient, bronze star recipients and the young daughter of his sergeant major. Had a U.S. president died during Finduras time in the Marines, his hand would have been on the casket.Leaving was not easy. In August, Findura walked the halls of his Marine barracks not entirely certain where he would go from here. He had decided not to renew his contract and was in the midst of a three-day course provided by the Marines to help prepare their departing members for a transition back to civilian life.He bumped into his old platoon commander who asked if Findura had considered returning to school to play football again. He shook his head. That didnt go so well the last time. When he joined the Marines to extricate himself from the usual demons of a young athlete set loose on his own for the first time -- poor grades, parties, chasing girls -- he made peace with the idea that he was closing that chapter of his life for good.Well, the commander said. If you change your mind, I know some guys in Boston who might be able to help.Alex Stone knows that uncertainty well. He set adrift from the Marines amid a recession in 2008, and the first job he could find was hawking wheelchairs and walkers for a hospital supply company. He spent long hours crisscrossing New England in a Nissan Pathfinder and wondering what had happened to the high school hockey star who left for boot camp the week after graduation, just the way he had always planned.The solitude was eating me alive, Stone says. Thats when it really hit home. Man, this is everything I didnt want to be. It was only six months to a year after separating, but I lost that feeling. I used to be proud to tell people what I did.Many of the approximately quarter of a million men and women who separate from the U.S. military each year have felt that rough patch. The Department of Veterans Affairs says 60 percent of them will try to go back to school via the GI Bill, but only half of those who enroll will finish their degree. The highest concentration of that group is between the ages of 25 and 30, and many of them will have to battle to figure out whats next.Findura was looking into careers in law enforcement. His wife was on him to get a degree, and he thought maybe he would try a night class or two while he worked. He took a temporary job as a security guard for large events at D.C.s Verizon Center. It was fine, he convinced himself -- decent money, a free pass to a fancy gym and the occasional opportunity to brush shoulders with NBA players or famous musicians.A week later Findura and his wife went to dinner with a couple of her friends. The man across the table asked him what he was doing for work. The response to that question used to come so easily: Im a Marine. That night he stared down at the beer in his glass for a moment before explaining his new security gig.The look he gave me, Findura says before trailing off. So, youre like a mall cop? Thats what people are thinking. Its ... its kind of heartbreaking.Stone, and his new Boston-based company Athletes of Valor, think they have a plan to help men and women like Findura. And it starts with college sports.Its the perfect way to transition out of the militaryNate Boyer sees the heartbroken every week. The former Green Beret who famously walked on to the Texas football team and earned a job as a long snapper is living in Los Angeles now. Most Thursday afternoons he hosts a workout session at Jay Glazers gym for a couple dozen veterans who have struggled since leaving the military. All of them spent time in combat and all of them have been or are currently homeless.They rip through a workout together then pick a spot in the gym to sit and talk. The discussions, Boyer says, are about regaining a sense of service, a purpose -- that thing you lose when you turn in your uniform. The workouts are about filling the void.Boyer saw the void coming before he finished his time overseas. He spent his last year in the service taking online courses to get himself eligible for a school like Texas. He knew he needed a challenge waiting for him when get got home, and he figured walking on to a Longhorns team that had played for a national championship the previous January was a good place to start.Its the perfect way to transition out of the military, Boyer says. Guys miss that camaraderie. You definitely feel a lot older than some of the other students on campus. I remember walking around and thinking about how small and young everybody looks, but in the locker room I felt more at home.A college campus can be a foreign and daunting place for new veterans, according to Auburn professor David DiRamio, a former member of the Navy who has spent much of the last decade studying the issues military members face when they return to school. He has found that one of the biggest factors that determines which veterans finish their degree and which ones dont is whether or not they get involved in extracurricular activities on campus.Those who dont get involved feel out of place and have an easier time quitting, DiRamio says. They lose their sense of mission, and that can lead to the problems that plague the nations veteran population like substance abuse and depression.Then-Texas head coach Mack Brown was skeptical when he first met Boyer. But it didnt take Brown very long to see the first layer of his value. On the 100-degree days of an August training camp, players have a tendency to complain. Brown remembers stopping practices several times and gathering his team to have Boyer tell them a story. Tell us about boot camp, Nate, he would say. Or, Nate, tell us what it feels like when explosions shake the ground while youre lying in the Iraqi desert on a day that makes Austin summers feel breezy.That would shut them up pretty quickly, says Brown, who can only remember two veterans on his roster in 30 years as a head coach. They both found him. He wouldnt have known where to begin if he was trying to seek them out.Stone, who left the wheelchair sales business and parlayed a sports apparel internship into a middle-management job at Under Armour, heard from plenty of coaches who felt the same way. He visited all-star combines and 7-on-7 tournaments and sized up the talent, thinking of men and women he served with who could compete with high school prospects. The demand was present, and so was the supply. Someone just needed to connect the two.Were probably a little bit different than most of the people around hereThe 166-year-old Davenport Building in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is an unlikely setting for the collision of military veterans and college athletics. On a cool day in October, software engineers with ruffled hair and ruffled cargo shorts scamper past the Japanese floral-printed banners that stretch to the ceiling of the four-story lobby without bothering to look up from their laptops. MBA-types stride past exposed brick walls, thumbing through iPhones in their chino pants and quarter-zip sweatshirts.The buildings main occupant, a marketing company called HubSpot, has its own in-house barista and kegs of local IPAs in the office for its employees. Athletes of Valor found a venture capitalist firm on the third floor that was willing to give them some office space and some start-up money.Their wing of the building consists of a long corridor lined by glass-framed offices occupied by a variety of burgeoning companies toting slogans about making the world a better place and living life to the fullest. Some will make it. Others wont.Stone and his teams of six have their headquarters there, too, a 10-by-10 glass room with four desks wedged up against the walls. On one wall is a dry-erase board with pricing matrices, call lists and networking ideas. On the opposite is the offices only real decorative sign. It reads, in part:?Be a f---ing lion. Set goals, smash them. Take no s---. Eat peoples faces off.Were probably a little bit different than most of the people around here, Stone says.The investors he approached early in the process largely felt the same way. This is a nice nonprofit idea, most investors told them, just like the many other organizations that honor and help veterans through sporting events or some other vehicle. Stone vehemently disagreed.For starters, his mind is groomed for business. He had spent the last six years parlaying an athletic apparel internship into a full-time job at Under Armour and working his way up the ladder to a promising career in charge of all of the companys baseball products. He didnt want to spend his days writing grant applications and passing the hat for charity donations.DiRamios research shows that newly minted veterans are fiercely reluctant to ask for help from someone outside of their immediate unit. Theyve been trained to adapt and overcome. Needing outside assistance is seen as a sign of weakness, DiRamio says, to young men and women who just spent the early part of their professional lives proving their strength. Veterans dont need a coachs help. Coaches need them.This isnt supposed to be a feel good thing, Stone says. We have a valuable, pinnacle demographic of athletes. Were not looking for you to pat us on the back and say heres your fee, maybe well recruit someone, maybe not. Were saying we can make your team better. If you dont agree, then dont pay for our service.Stone and his team have set a goal to attract 1,000 athletes and 1,000 college coaches in 2017. They currently have 25 coaches signed up for the service as beta testers and roughly the same number of veterans filling out profiles as their first round of prospects. The start-up world can be unpredictable and harrowing, but Athletes of Valor believes it can be profitable by this time next year.This week the company announced a partnership with Front Rush, a recruiting service used by more than 20,000 coaches at schools such as Clemson, Texas A&M, Washington, Florida State and many others to help find and track high school recruits. The deal will inform coaches about Athletes of Valor and allow them to integrate the veterans profiles into the same interface they use to find high school athletes.Next to the high school standouts, coaches will now be able to find players such as Chris Ahmed, a field goal kicker who has put one through the uprights from 55 yards and will be leaving the Navy next year. Austin Canfield is on the same list -- a 6-foot South Carolina native who would like to play quarterback again after he finishes his time in the Marines. Findura is on the list, too -- a 6-5, 250-pound defensive end with a year of college football experience and an interest in studying exercise science.He added his profile to the mix in September a couple of days after a painful dinner discussion with his wife and her friends. It was the first thing he did the next time he sat down at a computer.Findura signed up for an Arena League tryout this fall to see how rusty he was. Like a riding a bike, he thought. He let his parents know that he was thinking about giving football, and college, another shot. They were elated.Finduras grandfather was a talented baseball player who missed his shot when he was drafted into the Navy. It stuck with him for a long time. When Findura was at Georgia State, friends in their small town south of Atlanta would ask what he was up to, and his grandfather would cut him off before he had a chance to answer. He told them how Alex was up in Atlanta playing for Coach Curry and before long hed be off to the NFL. His dad wasnt much more subdued.?It wasnt fun for Findura to tell them he was leaving football because his grades and his priorities were headed in the wrong direction. That was a confrontation and a half, Findura says about telling his grandfather. He wanted me to go on. He was living what he wanted through me, and I kind of blew it for him.Next month, when college football season draws to a close and the recruiting cycle picks up the pace, Findura gets a second chance. Hell meet Stone and a few other members of Athletes of Valor in Baltimore for a training session at the gym Under Armour uses for many of its athletes. Theyll bring along a camera crew and a handful of fellow Body Bearers to help put together a tape showcasing his athleticism and strength.The night before Finduras Arena League workout he was pacing his place in the D.C. metro area when the phone rang. For the first time?in five years, it was his grandfather on the other end of the line. Good luck, he said. Let me know how it goes.Findura smiled. He cant wait for the next call. Kenny Lofton Jersey . "I wrote 36 on my sheet at the beginning of the game," the Cincinnati coach said, referring the yard line the ball would need to be snapped from. Jay Bruce Jersey . That left plenty of energy for pitching books and swatting away free agency questions. Anthony had 24 points and nine rebounds, and the Knicks avenged an embarrassing home loss with a rout of their own, beating the Boston Celtics 114-88 on Wednesday night for their third straight victory. http://www.baseballindiansprostore.com/indians-tyler-naquin-jersey/ . The Islanders dealt Thomas Vanek to the Montreal Canadiens after less than a year on Long Island. Meanwhile, the Oilers dealt long-time sniper Ales hemsky to the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday for a fifth-round pick in 2014 and a third-rounder in 2015. Cleveland Indians Jerseys . The recently retired Stern was elected Friday to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and will be enshrined with the class of 2014 on Aug. Trevor Bauer Jersey . SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- The wind whipped at a consistent 25 mph Saturday, making the 37-degree temperature at Illinois Memorial Stadium feel a good 10 degrees colder and making any ball in the air -- punt, pass or kick -- an adventure.But Iowa knows how to handle this kind of game.The Hawkeyes struggled to a 7-0 halftime lead before turning the game over to LeShun Daniels Jr. and the defense on the way to a 28-0 win over the Illini.The shutout was the first for Iowa (7-4, 5-3 Big Ten) since a win over Ball State in 2010. Illinois had just 198 yards of offense, had as many first downs -- 10 -- as punts and never pushed inside the Iowa 30.Watching the defense work motivated the offense to put points on the board on a day when they were tough to come by, Hawkeyes quarterback C.J. Beathard said.Theyve been flying around and hitting guys and getting to the ball the last couple of weeks, said Beathard, who was 9 of 17 for just 80 yards and an interception. Theyve stacked a couple of really good games together defensively.Daniels had 159 yards on 26 carries, including second-half touchdowns of 1 and 50 yards that put the game away.Even with quarterback Wes Lunt back from an injured back and starting his first game since early October, Illinois (3-8, 2-6) struggled to deal with the conditions and the Hawkeyes defense.We dropped the balls when we got it to the receivers. It just wasnt a good day for our offense as a whole -- we couldnt get the running game going, Illinois coach Lovie Smith said.The wind was the only reason McCarron dropped deep on punt returns Saturday, joining Desmond King as a second return man to deal with the unpredictable flight of the ball, Ferentz said. And having McCarron back there paid off late in the first half.Standing at his own 45, he waited for the low, wind-driven punt from David Reisner to find him. When it did, he broke right and found little but open space on the way to a 55-yard touchdown and the 7-0 halftime lead.THE TAKEAWAYIowa: Coming off a big win over Michigan, the Hawkeyes struggled through the first half. McCarrons touchdown looked for a while like it might be the games only points. But Iowas defense kept its foot on the Illini for fourr quarters, denying them points even off a pair of first-half turnovers and keeping Lunt to 137 yards and an interception on 19-of-41 passing.ddddddddddddIllinois: The Illini had first-half chances. But they failed to turn two turnovers and some good field position into points in their last home game of the season. Lost in the final score is a solid effort from a defense that Iowa wore down as the game went on. Iowa had 136 yards at halftime, had turned the ball over twice and, minus McCarrons punt return, hadnt scored.WIND TUNNELThink the stiff wind wasnt a factor? Iowa was so concerned about it that Ferentz chose to play with the wind at his teams back rather than receive the ball to open the third quarter. And the decision paid off. The Hawkeyes forced Illinois into a three-and-out possession to open the half, then comfortably drove 77 yards for Daniels first touchdown and a 14-0 lead.Ferentz remembered making a similar move once, in 2003 against Michigan State.It didnt work out too well up in East Lansing, he said. They promptly drove 80 yards.WHO NEEDS TO THROW?Four times in his career at Iowa, Beathard has thrown for fewer than 100 yards. All four times the Hawkeyes have won, at Wisconsin and Nebraska in 2015 and the past two weeks over Michigan and Illinois.LUNT TO GRANTLunt and Illinois receiver Zach Grant were high school teammates in Rochester, Illinois, just outside Springfield, and won a pair of state titles playing at Memorial Stadium. Grant came into the game with just 17 catches this season, but the connection between the two seniors was one of the few things that worked Saturday. Grant had eight catches for 65 yards and said the connection between the two felt a little like high school again.Now thinking about it, it did a little bit. It was nice to get rolling for sure, he said.UP NEXTIowa: The Hawkeyes close at home against No. 19 Nebraska next Saturday.Illinois: Illinois finishes up at Northwestern next Saturday.---More AP college football coverage: collegefootball.ap.orgFollow David Mercer on Twitter: (at)davidmercerAP Jerseys NFL Cheap Wholesale NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys China Wholesale Jerseys Free Shipping Cheap NFL Jerseys China Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap ' ' '