Hunter Deal ready to give his all for Sewanee
Some athletes commit to colleges after just one oncampus visit and some never step a single foot on campus before move-in day.
And then there are others who know their new homes very well before becoming a part of the community and Lafayette’s Hunter Deal is firmly in the latter category.
A little more than three years after his older brother, Cody, signed on to play football for historic Sewanee, Hunter put his name on paperwork to join his brother as a member of the Purple Tigers’ program.
“It’s pretty exciting knowing I’m going to be able to go on to the next level and show my talents somewhere else,” he said. “It’s just been a good experience to know that somebody else has recognized my talent and wants me in their program.
“(Plus) I love the campus. It’s very beautiful. It’s not far away from home and it’s a really good college with really good education, so I’ll be getting a good degree. It’s just an amazing place.”
Hunter said Cody was equally as excited to know that the two would again be teammates once again.
“He’s really excited,” he continued. “He wants to show me the ropes when I get up there, what they do and how
they’re all just like one big family and not just a football team. He just wants me to be a part of it too.”
Deal was a three-sport standout with the Ramblers.
This past season, he was named second-team All-region as a linebacker in 6-AAA. In 10 regular-season games, he collected 60 tackles with 39 of them of the solo variety. He also added 21 assists, one sack, one interception and one fumble recovery to help the Ramblers advance to the playoffs for the first time in 27 years.
In addition to football, he
was a two-time state qualifier in wrestling, placing third in the area and fifth at sectionals as a junior and second in the area as a senior. (Sectionals were not held this past season.)
He also finished fifth in the area as a sophomore to earn an alternate position for the sectionals and made appearances in the field and on the mound for the baseball team over the last four years.
“As a player, he had a great work ethic,” said former Lafayette head coach Paul Ellis, who coached
Deal the past three seasons with the Ramblers. “He was such a leader by example for us. He was always at practice and always doing what he was supposed to do. Whether it was in practice or getting ready for games, he was almost like having another coach on the field.”
Ellis also said that Sewanee was getting a “top notch person”.
“I tried to figure it up the other day,” he said. “If you count all the sports (that I’ve coached), I’ve probably coached between 2,500
and 3,000 kids in my career. As far as players go, they’re hard to rank, but when you’re talking about people, he would definitely be in that top one percent.
“I can’t say enough good things about him. He’s going to be successful in life because of his work ethic, which also made him really good football player for us. The thing about him is that he’s going to be successful up there because they’re getting a true student-athlete. Anytime you get to go to Sewanee and graduate from there, that’s like
graduating from Vanderbilt or Georgia Tech.”
Deal said he was recruited as a linebacker, but that he was more than willing to play any position on the field.
“I’ll do anything that the coach tells me to do,” he added. “Whatever the position, defense or offense, I’ll do it to the best of my ability. I’m just willing to do anything to help the program get better.”
Deal plans to major in pre-physical therapy in the hopes of one day becoming a trainer.