RIGHT ON THE LINE
♦ Darlington’s Griffin Brewster finds a new home in Kent State as local athletes mark National Signing Day.
Griffin Brewster’s college recruitment, like his high school career, has had some ups and downs.
His resilience, however, has never been questioned. So when it came time Wednesday morning to make his choice of where to play college football official Brewster was ready.
The Tigers’ pro-style quarterback put pen to paper like so many other hopeful high school football players on National Signing Day, marking his intent to play for the Golden Flashes of Kent State.
“It’s a blessing,” Griffin said. “You know, it’s been a long, long process of surgeries, and wins and losses, and hard conversations, and a lot of traveling and seeing places. And it’s just, it’s been a ride, and it’s been so much fun. I wouldn’t have it any other way. It feels so good to get it over with and know I have a home somewhere next year and Kent State’s the place I want to be.”
A highly-touted athlete going into his junior year, Griffin’s career took a detour when he tore his ACL in the second game, forcing him to miss the rest of the season. He came back for his senior season and threw for 1,830 yards and 17 touchdowns, completing 141 of 208 passes with only three interceptions.
He was then named the Region 6-A/A
Player of the Year, cementing his comeback.
Joining him on Wednesday was a teammate and one of his protectors, Ayden Langford. The offensive lineman signed with Division III Sewanee, capping a career of hard work and perseverance,
according to Darlington head football coach Tommy Atha.
“It’s just really relieving. I’ve been working for four years to get to this level where I wanted to be,” Langford said. “I’ve always wanted to play at the next level, but now, it’s like achieving that goal just kind of takes a weight off your shoulders, like I finally got there. lt’s nice.”
Brewster pondered over a few high-profile offers from
D-I schools and even committed to Colorado State in November before Rams head coach Mike Bobo stepped down in early December. Brewster reopened his recruiting soon after.
When it came to Kent State, Brewster said he found the people there to be the thing that stuck out the most, with head coach Sean Lewis and offensive coordinator Andrew Sowder making a good impression on him.
But there was one other thing that Brewster was looking for in a college.
“I’ve always wanted to be
and play somewhere where I’m going to enjoy living in that place and I wasn’t sure about Kent State,” he said. “We went one time and we just kind of hung out and saw the campus, but I didn’t really see the town. Then I got tours of the town, I got all the good restaurants, all the good places to hang out. … It was a lot of fun and that’s kind of just when I knew it was where I wanted to be.”
The Golden Flashes play in the Mid-american Conference, which includes Central Michigan, Miami (Ohio) and Toledo. They beat Utah State
51-41 last season in the Frisco Bowl in December for their first bowl win in program history.
Sewanee, in Tennessee, is in the Southern Athletic Association along with Berry College.
“It reminded me a lot of Darlington, the school itself did, and the football program. The coaches were just really great dudes. I just really fell in love with it and the program,” Langford said.
That familiarity stretches to the mascots and school colors, as Sewanee is also the purple and white Tigers, like Darlington.