A volleyball player for the City College Knights, Luke Timm, was recruited to play for a NCAA Division 1 university, California State University Northridge on a partial scholarship after playing the sport only two seasons.

During high school, Timm was a basketball star and was offered a scholarship to play for the University of Minnesota. He turned it down because he thought it wasn’t right for him. It may have been a blessing in disguise because shorty afterward, he found volleyball.

Timm, standing at 6’5”, comes from a family of volleyball players. Both his mother and father played at a high level, including on the U.S. national team.

After a high school coach watched Timm on the court with a girls volleyball team, the coach persuaded Timm to attend a volleyball clinic where he met Kevin Pratte.

Once Pratte became the head coach of the men’s volleyball program at City College in 2014, he reached out to Timm to play for the Knights.

“Luke was our first recruit at San Diego City College when I became the head coach. Although Luke never played high school volleyball it was clear that he was extremely athletic,” said Prattte. “I am grateful that Luke picked San Diego City College and he exceeded all expectations.”

This past season, the Knights live-streamed most of their games with the idea of getting their players looked at by coaches at universities across the country, as well as friends and family members at home.

Timm was approached by many schools, including UCLA, University of Southern California, the University of Hawaii, Pepperdine University, and others back east, but was approached by CSUN and a given the chance to visit the school before signing. The decision was made based on that fact that he enjoyed the campus.

With a 3.1 GPA, Timm, 19, hopes to become a sports medicine physician with a degree in exercise science from CSUN.

“People can’t believe that it’s only my second season playing. I just know I have a lot of room to grow, so I want to see how good I can get and I’m wondering how far I can take it,” said Timm.

Timm finished this 2016 season with 152 kills, 121 digs, and 22 blocks to help the Knights reach their overall record of 9-13 and 4-10 in the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference.

“It is clear that Luke is a solid volleyball player, but he is an even better person. Luke is one of the most loyal players I have coached and he is impeccable with his word,” said Pratte. “That is rare to find.”