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treSolomon2
Credit: Zach Sheldon

He is known many ways — No. 22 on the field; that athlete in your finance recitation; Penn football’s star running back, or perhaps even the best tailback in the Ivy League. 

Some people call him Tre Solomon. Others call him TrePool. 

Funny by nature, Solomon has always been known to add good memories to any classroom or locker room alike. He’s even been known to post the occasional meme to Penn’s community meme group, the Official Unofficial Penn Squirrel Catching Club. 

Topics of such memes have included awkward social interactions on Locust Walk, being unprepared for class and financial aid struggles. 

“I just like posting memes because I think they’re hilarious, and relatable too, so it’s really fun to post something and get feedback on it, too,” he said.

He enjoys feedback, but has avoided getting himself into too much trouble thus far — shying away from hot-button subjects, the senior noted that he enjoys the humor of Penn’s everyday struggles. 

“I don’t put out anything that’s super over the top or controversial, or anything like that,” Solomon said. “Just something funny we all go through — financial aid troubles, or not getting into the class you wanted...stuff like that.”

One look at his memes and you might think that he’s the football team’s class clown. But humbly, Solomon pointed to junior lineman Tommy Dennis as his pick for funniest man on the squad. 

That didn’t stop him, however, from stealing the spotlight at the program’s media day in the last week of August. His duties speaking to the press complete, TrePool walked over to the team bench and picked up his prized possession — a $250 Deadpool mask imported from Russia, featuring interchangeable faces to imitate the satiric superhero’s different expressions. 

Credit: Zach Sheldon

Tre Solomon is a solid running back, but football isn't the speedy memelord's only area of expertise. 

“Worth every single dollar,” he chuckled. “It’s just amazing when a purchase comes together like this.”

Solomon proceeded to play in his Russian Deadpool mask with a group of kids on the football field, showing the youth of a comic-book-crazed teenager with dreams that he might one day develop superpowers of his own. 

Yet somehow, for all his youth, Penn’s top running back has simultaneously revealed a maturity on the field over the past season and a half of his career. After developing in the shadow of his elder counterpart Brian Schoenauer, Solomon came into his own last year, catching the Ivy League off guard with his commendable displays. 

Credit: Julia Schorr


“Last year [2015], I just don’t think I was as focused as I am this year [2016],” Solomon told the DP last October. “This year, I’ve been working a lot with the coaches, working a lot with Brian [Schoenauer], and just trying to learn as much as I can and take as many reps as I can during practice.” 

In 2016’s Ivy League title-repeating campaign, TrePool rushed for 91 yards a game — 19 more than the next-best running back — and even went two-for-two passing, for a total of 29 yards. When the offense lined up with three backs and no Alek Torgersen in the backfield, he was the point man almost every play. Frankly, he stepped up in a way that not many foresaw. 

This time around, with the pressure to three-peat on and without the certainty of Torgersen to provide relief at quarterback, the team could need him more than ever. He doesn’t see any need to be the team’s hero, however — at least, more than he already is.