BROOKVILLE, N.Y. — Kim Dykstra received a cryptic text message from LIU tight ends coach Kort Shankweiler at 11 a.m. on Aug. 16, as the LIU football team had entered the heart of preseason practices.

"It's not an emergency," Shankweiler wrote, "but can you call when you get a chance?"

Said tight end Reese Dykstra, Kim's son: "Instantly my mom shot to, 'Is he hurt? … Is he kicked off the team? … What's going on?'

"She called over to my girlfriend and said, 'Hey, is Reese OK? Is Reese OK?'"

Shankweiler soon thereafter read Kim Dykstra into the plot – a plot that has resulted in national media attention, while alleviating a huge burden for the family.

An hour after the text message, head coach Ron Cooper awarded the 6-foot-3, 236-pound Dykstra — a redshirt sophomore economics major from Worthington, Ohio — a full scholarship in front of the entire team.

Teammates erupted in cheers and mobbed Dykstra as he buried his head into his T-shirt and began to cry.

Kim Dykstra played a major role in the scheme's setup. She had been instructed by Shankweiler to call as the meeting was scheduled to begin.

Cooper answered at the front of the room.

And, with the FaceTime call on speaker, the team learned Dykstra's mother was on the other end, leaving the tight end smiling but somewhat confused.

"I'm a little concerned," Dykstra's mother proceeded to tell Cooper as the student-athletes attentively listened.

"He's doing great," Cooper replied. "We're going to pay for the rest of his school. You have no more bills."

That moment, and Dysktra's ensuing reaction, continue to draw media attention in the New York and Ohio media markets as well as on ESPN's social channels.

ESPN College GameDay is due to televise the clip on Saturday. LIU kicks off its season at noon that day at Ohio University — the alma mater of Kim Dykstra, a Columbus, Ohio, high school teacher, and her ex-husband Corey.

"I can't even put a number to it. Hundreds of people back home, hundreds of people here, hundreds of people I don't even know have reached out to me and have supported me," Dykstra said.

Dykstra had arrived at LIU on a partial scholarship, and with a financial obligation the family could manage. Tuition annually crept upward, and his football scholarship remained a fixed amount.

Then, Dykstra's brother Louis turned 24 years old, and was no longer considered a dependent for federal financial-aid purposes.

Dykstra and his family unexpectedly learned mid-summer that the family's annual financial obligation had nearly tripled, to more than $20,000 a year.

Only weeks before the surprise scholarship announcement, having resolved to remain at LIU because of the bonds he had formed, Dykstra had taken out a student loan. He also had started a part-time job at an LA Fitness on the South Shore of Long Island.

"I really built a foundation here," Dykstra said. "Set aside football — a foundation with social life, academics. I have a life here. I really wanted to finish here. I wanted to continue being a Division I athlete, continue here. So that was basically where my head was at. My parents and I agreed on taking out loans. We took some out already. And then here we are."

The cameras nearly had given away the surprise. Dykstra's teammate, Leisaan Hibbert, had whispered to him that one camera seemed to be pointed toward Dykstra as they took their seats in the meeting room. Dykstra dismissed it, thinking to himself how classes also take place during the summer in the same room and the cameras probably were set up for students learning remotely.

Then came the FaceTime call.

"You know how Coach Coop is. He knows so many people. He's a very famous guy," Dykstra said. "So he gets the FaceTime. And I'm thinking it's an NFL player — someone famous. And I hear a woman's voice. And I instantly recognize it. I know that voice.

"That's not a …

"That's a celebrity in my eyes. But that's not a celebrity.

"And the iPhone's screen flips around, and there she is. It's my mom. And she has the four dogs in the background. And she has the cat in the background, too."

Yet Dykstra still did not anticipate what was about to take place.

"I still had to hear it to know," he said. "I always had a thought in my head, 'I've worked really hard. I've done really well in practices. I've had a big step up.' So I've always had in the back of my head that if anyone gets more money this year, I felt I've worked enough to deserve that. But I still didn't believe it until I heard it.

"I saw her and I was like, 'This could be something else.' … I didn't even know what else it could be.

"It was literally a dream come true."

Dykstra, by the way, plans to continue the part-time LA Fitness job regardless of the academic financial responsibility being lifted. He intends to work two shifts a week, 12 hours, during the season. Then he plans to increase the workload to 18 to 24 hours a week once the Sharks complete their fall schedule.

It's the type of commitment Cooper can appreciate.

"We didn't give the scholarship away," Cooper said. "He earned it."