Western Illinois center James Durand spent most of his youth in Arizona, but he considers Wisconsin – where his parents attended college – his home. (Photo by Barry Bottino, PrairieStatePigskin.com)
By Barry Bottino
James Durand was a frequent flyer before middle school. Born in Wisconsin, the Western Illinois offensive lineman lived in Colorado, Alaska and Washington before settling in Arizona as a third grader.
But he calls Wisconsin, where his parents attended college and he has visited many summers growing up, to be home.
No matter what state he’s in, Durand finds joy the same way.
“I love being outside,” he said. “It plays a part in who I am and the agriculture side of me.”
Whether he’s off-roading in the desert, hiking or working an internship on a Wisconsin ranch, Durand is right at home.
The sophomore, whose college career started at FBS Wisconsin, has been a mainstay this season on the Leathernecks’ offensive line.
Durand loves watching film and studying football, has driven vehicles ranging from four wheels to 18, is devoted to his favorite Mexican restaurant and would love to wear all-purple uniforms every Saturday.
Get to know all about Durand in our Moving the Chains Q&A series.
What was it like playing against Cole LaCrue, your former Wisconsin teammate who is now the Eastern Illinois QB?
I called him Monday morning (before the game) to wish him luck. He was my neighbor my freshman year. He lived in the apartment next to me and we did pretty much everything together. It was super fun.
It’s fun to be on the field with your best friend, but it’s hard when you’re going head to head with him. It was good to see him. I hadn’t seen him since January. It was awesome to catch up a little bit.
We text a decent amount, just keeping up with each other.
If you take a teammate back home to the Phoenix metro area, what are three things you have to do?
Los Favoritos, which is a genuine Mexican restaurant, is No. 1. I always go to the one right in Chandler, Ariz. When I go home, I eat there two times a day. I’m not joking. Their breakfast burritos are unreal.
I love to hike. I always have. I love being outside. It plays a part in who I am and the agriculture side of me. There are all kinds of hiking trails (around Chandler).
Then, the off-roading world has always been huge for me. I started doing that my freshman year of high school. I started welding and building cages for cars. There’s a place in Florence, Ariz., called Box Canyon. There’s a point where there’s maybe eight inches on each side of your car (through the canyon). There are gorgeous views.
Plus, you can golf every day of the year, and the golf is really cheap in the summer.
How did your family settle in Arizona?
I moved all around growing up. I would claim Wisconsin (as home). We moved for my dad’s job. I was born in Colorado. We moved to Alaska and lived there for about two years. I would go back there in a heartbeat.
The experiences we got to have growing up, you couldn’t beat them. You’d walk outside to go to school in the morning in Alaska, and you’d see two bull moose fighting in your front yard. That’s pretty special.
We moved to Vancouver, Wash., which is just across the river from Portland. Then we moved to Arizona. I started school in Arizona in third grade. I was there for 10 years.
Every summer, I was in Wisconsin. Last summer and this coming summer, I’ll do an internship on a ranch in Door County, in Sturgeon Bay, where my fiancé is from.
Wisconsin will always be home for me, no matter where I go.
Your parents are no strangers to Wisconsin, having graduated from Lawrence University. Tell us about their athletic careers.
My mom (Christy) is one of the grittiest human beings I’ve ever met. My dad (Michael) is an incredibly hard worker. But my mom swam her entire career, and her best event was the mile. It’s you and yourself in the water. You can’t hear much. She’s the lady who will wake up – before I do most days – and go do some kind of workout. She loves F45 (a high-intensity interval training workout). Then she’ll go to Pilates in the afternoon. She’ll walk all over and ride her bike.
She loves to be active. My brother, Jonathon, played college football too (at Yale), and she always said she wanted to be able to keep up with us.
My dad played football. He started as a running back at Lawrence and then transitioned to a defensive end. He enjoyed every second of it. He’s still so close to the guys he went to school with.
My mom is a stay-at-home mom. She was a teacher by trade. She taught for a while. When my parents started having kids, she took care of that. My dad (is executive vice president and Chief Operating Officer) for United Rentals, an equipment rental company. He gets to travel all over, which is awesome.
Do you have any Yale gear in your closet from your brother’s career there?
There are a couple of t-shirts. He played center all four years he was there. He loved it. He had a blast. He’s the smartest human being you’ll come across, which is pretty fun to have for a brother. He is an electrical engineer by trade.
We had a broken Xbox growing up and he made it work again. (Laughs) He was like 14 years old.
Throughout your career, your headshots have included a mustache, a mustache/goatee combo and no facial hair. Do you have a preference?
I’m a mustache guy, through and through. Nothing else grows in right, and I look 12 if I don’t have facial hair.
How did throwing discus in high school help your football skill set?
Track is such a great opportunity, especially for offensive linemen. You’re moving your body at full speed and stopping on a dime. The biggest thing I learned from it was eyes. To be able to snap your eyes around in the discus ring and find your focal point that you’re wanting to throw to is super important. It trains hand-eye coordination, as well as being able to get your eyes downfield or down range as fast as possible.
You’ve started a game at tackle, but most of your time has been at center. What do you like about center?
I played center my first two years at Wisconsin, so it wasn’t a huge move to go back. At center, you have a lot of people counting on you. They’re counting on you to make the right call, to do the right things to get everyone on the same wavelength so you do things that make you successful.
Communication is a necessity when playing center, so who are you communicating with before a play?
Typically, I always make the line call first. What front we’re seeing. That kind of opens the folder. There’s an odd (front) world and an even (front) world. That opens the folders to all the different rules. You really communicate with your guards, then guards communicate with tackles. A lot of times, the running backs and tight ends key into what I’m saying and make their rules right.
I love center. I love to watch film and use it as an excuse to watch football. I spend as many hours as I can just watching ball. Not very many times is it your job to watch football. In 20 years, I’ll be wishing I could watch football for a job. I promise you that.
You won the Eddie Basha Award in your high school’s district. Who was Eddie?
I went to Basha High School. Eddie Basha was the superintendent for our district for a long time. He was a man of great character. He had strong team values, strong family values. That award goes to people who have strong character and bring others to the next level with them. It was a huge honor to me. It’s a teachers vote and a coaches vote and an athletic directors vote and a principals vote. It’s more than just football. Even at the college level, there’s more than just football going on. One of our big things here is community service. Coach Davis always says, ‘When you’re at your lowest point and things feel so hard, go serve somebody else.’ It opens your eyes. Those character values are extremely important to me.
Is there an Arizona restaurant you wish was located in Macomb?
I’ll go back to Los Favoritos. I’ve had my mom freeze (burritos) and send them to me in a box.
Do you have a favorite place on campus?
Our ag facilities here are just gorgeous. Even if I didn’t have class out there, I’d just drive out there at sunset or sunrise. It’s quiet. About 95% of the time, it’s dead silent out there, except when they’re running machinery out there.
Growing up, did you have favorite sports teams?
I was a Wisconsin sports team guy growing up – Packers fan, Brewers fan, Wisconsin Badgers fan. It was awesome.
Do you own any jerseys of your favorite players?
I’ve got a Clay Matthews (Packers) jersey. I have Aaron Rodgers. I have a Jeff Saturday (Colts) jersey. He’s the best offensive lineman that’s ever played in the NFL as far as technique goes. I also have a Joe Thomas Wisconsin jersey, which is awesome.
Does your jersey number 63 have a certain significance to you?
It’s a funny story. I followed in my brother’s footsteps. He was a great role model. His freshman year of high school, he wore No. 64. When they moved him to varsity, 64 was taken by the starting center, so he went to 63. As long as I can remember, if I got to choose my jersey number, I was 63. My dad was 34 all the way through college.
What’s the coolest sporting event you’ve attended as a fan?
Sadly, I was at the 2016 Arizona Cardinals-Packers playoff game that went into overtime with the (Rodgers) Hail Mary. Heartbreaking. But it was one of the most exciting games that I’ve been to.
Do you have a favorite WIU football uniform combination?
I love purple on purple.
What are you studying and what do you hope to do with your degree?
I am an agriculture business management major. I have no clue what I want to do, but our program here is top class. You can do anything. The business side of it is fantastic. You’re making real-world connections in college. I don’t think I could do a job where I don’t get to talk to people. A cubicle job is not for me. I have to be outside. Making true connections with people is what I want the most.
What was your first car?
It was a 2011 Ford F-150 that I tore apart in my garage and turned into a desert race truck. I totaled that my senior year of high school. It was pitch black and the car in front of me didn’t have their taillights on. I ran right into the back of them.
Now I drive a 2017 Subaru WRX that I’ve wrenched on plenty enough. It’s manual, and I love it. It’s low to the ground. I don’t think I’ll ever drive anything that’s not manual. It’s so fun.
What’s the coolest vehicle you’ve ever driven?
I’ve driven 18-wheelers. I’ve driven some massive tractors. I worked agriculture all through high school, on a hay farm. I got to drive all kinds of stuff. But I drove a late 1970s John Deere tractor this past summer and the technology was completely absent. It’s all driver. It’s a gear box, steering wheel and gas pedal. I don’t know if it was the coolest to drive, but it was definitely my favorite.
Halloween is coming up. What was the best costume you’ve ever worn and your favorite candy?
I’m not a big sweets guy. If it’s anything sweet, it’s got to be a Charleston Chew and it has to be frozen.
Pretty much until I was 15 years old, I wore the same blow-up chicken costume. It had an electrical fan in it. By the time I was 8, it was too small. (Laughs) It barely went to my knees the last time I wore it. My mom has it in a box somewhere.
Me and my brother were always too big to go out trick or treating, because people never believed we were as old as we said we were.
Sometimes it’s just more fun to go to the grocery store and get the candy you want.
Halloween is fun, especially on a college campus. There’s no other place where you can see someone come to a lecture in a Spider-Man costume.
Barry Bottino is a co-founder of Prairie State Pigskin and a 19-year veteran of three Illinois newspapers. He has covered college athletics since 1995.
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