Two Cardington football players announced their college intentions last Wednesday at the high school, as Trey Williams announced he would continue his career at the University of Mount Union, while Devin Fridley will resume his at Heidelberg University.
For Williams, the Division III powerhouse program felt like a natural fit.
“Academically, I felt it was a great fit and for football, they have a great tradition,” he said. “I feel I can fit in there. I thought it was the best place.”
While he was also impressed with Urbana University and received a few offers to be a preferred walk-on at Division I schools, Williams, who will play linebacker in college, liked the potential opportunity he has with the Purple Raiders.
“They have three senior linebackers graduating, so my opportunity is all on me,” he said. “It’s all on my work ethic and if I want it.”
Williams found other positives with Mount Union, such as having family in the area and also enjoying his visit a lot.
“When at Mount Union, it was very individualized,” he said. “My recruiting coach took me around and he’d give me off to a graduate assistant to get to know us. We also had a player on the team talk to us.”
Williams, who is considering criminal justice and exercise science as a major, earned a decent number of awards during his two years of football at Cardington. In both his junior and senior year, he was a first-team pick from both the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference and the Central District. During his junior year, he was a third-team All-Ohioan and became a first-team pick this year.
Fridley had a different path to making it to college as a student-athlete. After a strong junior year which saw him receive honorable mention recognition from the Central District, an injury ended his senior season before it had begun.
“I tore my ACL in the off-season,” he said. “It was kind of depressing not having a senior year, but coach (Jerry) Williams did a good job of getting my name out to coaches.”
Fridley, who will play wide receiver in college, picked Heidelberg for both academic and athletic reasons.
“Just academically, I thought it was the best,” he said. “I love the campus and the football program is amazing. How they run their offense, I though was best for me as a receiver.”
He noted Heidelberg’s offense is quite similar to what he was used to running with the Pirates.
“They run a zone offensive spread and that’s what we ran in Cardington,” he said. “They’re going to try to work me in at the slot and a little bit at wideout.”
Fridley is planing to major in athletic training and possibly minor in sports management.
