B-R’s Shaw answers Navy letter
Bryce Shaw always knew he wanted to join the military after high school.
The senior linebacker from Bridgewater-Raynham now will get to play football there as well.
Flanked by family members yesterday, Shaw took another step in making both a reality when he signed his National Letter of Intent to the United States Naval Academy.
“I always said to myself that if I couldn’t play Division 1 football, I was going to serve my country,” Shaw said. “The fact now that I get to do both is something that’s surreal to me.”
Shaw not only had to excel on the gridiron, but go through a demanding application process to get into Navy.
The Herald All-Scholastic, who recorded 80 tackles this season, needed a letter of recommendation from Congressman Joe Kennedy III and several teachers along with fulfilling strict academic requirements and passing the school’s fitness test as part of his application.
Shaw is relieved the process is over. While he also garnered interest from Ivy League schools along with Temple and Boston College, Navy’s tradition pulled in Shaw, who will attend the same school as his father, Dave, who suited up for the Midshipmen in the early 1990s.
“I’ve just been working so hard to get here,” Shaw said. “It means so much for me and my family and everyone who’s ever helped me along the way. It’s a really big accomplishment.”
It was a special day at Brighton High School as tight end Jerrod Clark inked his National Letter of Intent to attend Coastal Carolina. Clark gave a touching speech in which he thanked his family, coaches and teammates.
“My teammates helped me become a better player and a person. My coaches helped put me in this situation where I could get a scholarship,” Clark said. “This shows that a kid from Brighton or any inner city school can earn a scholarship if they work at it.”
Clark is one of two local players to commit to Coastal Carolina. Everett wide receiver Isaiah Likely will join Clark at the school, having signed his NLI early yesterday. Two more Everett players signed their letters, Jason Maitre to BC and David Zorrilla to Bryant.
Central Catholic had a busy morning as Bret Edwards and Omo Omoyeni signed to attend New Hampshire, while Max Faro made a commitment to Brown (the Ivy League does not honor NLI).
There was a BC flavor at Lawrence Academy as three members of the ISL championship team committed to The Heights: linemen Ryan Betro and Finn Dirstine and tight end Pat Freiermuth.
Bryant was busy recruiting locally as usual. In addition to Zorrilla, Jarrett Martin (Catholic Memorial), Jack McNeil (Marshfield) and Payton Heidtke (Andover) signed with the school.
St. Sebastian’s lineman Jonathan Pace and Somerville quarterback Elijah Jeffreys signed with Connecticut, while Jeffreys’ high school teammate, Jiovanny Pierre, is headed to Central Connecticut.
Other top recruits included Belmont Hill wide receiver Jake Bobo (Duke), BB&N fullback Jay Symonds (Stanford), Brooks tight end Pat Freiermuth (Penn State) and Milton Academy quarterback Alec Beesmer (Lehigh).