Christiansburg players make football futures official

Brenden Motley (maroon jacket) and Tyler Morgan (yellow shirt) celebrate signing their letters of intent at Christiansburg High School Wednesday. Photo by Travis Williams | The Burgs

A ceremony was held Wednesday morning at Christiansburg High School.

No, it wasn’t a wedding ceremony, though you could say Christiansburg’s Brenden Motley has been engaged to the Virginia Tech football program for the past seven months.

Motley and teammate Tyler Morgan made their college decisions official by signing letters of intent to play football in the presence of family and friends.

Motley signed to attend Tech, while Morgan will be attending Ferrum College.

For Motley, the signing came just over seven months after he verbally committed to play for Tech, while Morgan said he had only been set on the Franklin County school for about a week.

According to Christiansburg head football coach Tim Cromer, Motley is only the second scholarship football player in the school’s history and the first ever to receive one from Tech.

Motley said despite his verbal commitment to Tech in June, the two other schools which offered him scholarships – Virginia and Georgia Tech – did continue to pursue him. He gave them both credit for taking a positive approach in their recruitment, rather than trying to talk him out of playing for the Hokies.

He added he was extremely encouraged by the message he received during his official visit to Tech this past weekend regarding which side of the ball he would be playing on.

After starting at both quarterback and defensive back during his senior season at Christiansburg and recording 17 tackles, along with an interception, in the Division 4 Group AA championship game, Motley said he heard people question which position he was best suited for.

Those questions were put to rest during Motley’s visit, in which he said he was reassured by the coaching staff that quarterback would be his position.

“It built my confidence and got me excited that I would definitely being playing quarterback, because that’s all I’ve ever wanted to play,” he said.

There was far less concern over his teammate Morgan’s future position with the Panthers.

Though he said he might try his hand at holding and place kicking, the punter who averaged 38.2 yards per punt for the Blue Demons in 2011, said he is looking forward to keeping that as his main focus at Ferrum.

Regardless of the positions the players will be taking, Cromer seemed most excited about the players attending schools close to home.

“We really like it when they stay local so we can keep up with them,” Cromer said.

Despite the difference in commitment lengths, schools and positions, both players agreed making their decisions official was a relief.

“I feel free now,” Morgan said. “Everything you have to go through, all the colleges you have to visit and stuff gets clouded up in your head. So this feels really good.”

Motley said he felt a similar feeling of relief and was looking forward to enjoying the remainder of his senior year.

“It feels great,” he said. “I’m getting ready for this honeymoon I guess you could say.”

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