matt seymour harper sherman

football school: New Westminster freshmen’s future: Ohio (Seymour), Arizona (Sherman)

There is something so natural about mentioning Matt Seymour and Harper Sherman in the same breath. It goes beyond their shared proximity on an elementary school roll call, or on an alphabeticized varsity football roster.

Sure, the pair can trace their shared past to the fact that they have been classmates since the sixth grade, when they attended Glenbrook Middle School in New Westminster.

And that connection continued throughout their years together as teammates within the New Westminster Hyacks high school football program.

In February, on NCAA signing day, the talented seniors were once again mentioned together, this time throughout B.C. and across Canada.

Seymour, a 6-foot-1, 180-pound wide receiver and defensive back with the Hyacks, and Sherman, a 6-foot-5, 275-pound offensive lineman, not only earned the distinction of being the only two NCAA Div. 1 football signings this season from B.C., but New Westminster was the only high school in Canada to ticket two players to the U.S. collegiate giant’s highest level of competition.

Sherman will head to the Pac 12 Conference with the Arizona Wildcats, while Seymour’s in the Mid American Conference with the Ohio Bobcats.

Yet while the excitement builds, they’ve been asked to play a waiting game.

Both Seymour and Sherman have been classified as grayshirts for the upcoming 2015 season, meaning neither will be on their respective college campuses for the start of fall practices. Instead, they have agreed to delay entry into university until the spring semester of their freshman year, a move which will allow them to continue to physically mature without starting the NCAA’s five-year eligibility clock.

“It’s a little bittersweet knowing you almost have to lose something to gain more,” says Sherman. “A year without football is going to be tough. But it motivates me and I have a desire to be great. It’s going to make me a better man.”

Adds Seymour: “It’s a big gap to not put on the pads for a while, but I am going to use the time to get better, and I’ve already gotten bigger and stronger.”

Come the fall, don’t be surprised to see them helping out at their old high school, because as they both say, it’s fun to give back.

But in the same breath, nothing will compare to the journeys they are now so close to taking, as the college football world beckons.