Thursday, January 27, 2011

Two Jaguar football stars commit to play in Colorado

Travis Bernard (22) and Beau Reilly (16) are both headed to the state of Colorado for college.

A pair of Valley Center football stars will be playing their college ball in the state of Colorado.
Quarterback Beau Reilly recently committed orally to play at Colorado State University (CSU), while running back Travis Bernard committed on Saturday to play at the University of Northern Colorado (UNC).
Bernard, a finalist for the KUSI Prep Pigskin Report Silver Pigskin Award, rushed for 2,790 yards in his senior season, the third-best rushing total in CIF San Diego Section history. He says that meeting the UNC coaching staff, led by head coach Earnest Collins Jr., was what led him to make his commitment there.
“I was able to interact with the coaches in such a comfortable way, and we bonded,” he says. “The way I was able to talk with them so easily, it was different than it was at any other school I talked to.”
Bernard is also excited about battling for a starting spot at running back right away.
“They want me to come in and compete for a starting spot right away, so that’s what I’m working for in the off-season,” he says. “I think there are three other guys competing for the job, so I’m going to go up about a month early to work out with the team as much as possible.”
As for his final year as a Jaguar, Bernard says that he’s excited about playing at the next level, but he will always appreciate what he and his teammates accomplished in 2010.
“It really meant a lot to play on this team with my friends,” he says. “And I’m really looking forward to playing in college.”
Reilly, meanwhile, led the Jaguars with 1,953 passing yards and 15 touchdowns through the air. The six-foot-six quarterback comes from a family of outstanding collegiate athletes, with his three older brothers playing at the next level. Oldest brother AJ is a basketball player at Westminster College, next oldest brother Trevor plays defensive end at Utah and Drew is a safety at Colorado State.
But the quarterback of the family won’t be slinging passes in college for a couple of years, because he will first go on a two-year Mormon mission.
When Reilly returns, he will play for a CSU team that runs a similar style of offense run at Valley Center, and features a quarterbacks coach in Orange Glen alum Daren Wilkinson who will help the young signal-caller hone his ability.
One other Jaguar, offensive tackle Stehly Reden, has committed to play at Brigham Young University (BYU). National Signing Day for high school athletes signing their national letter of intent is Feb. 2 this year.

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