By Matthew Hatfield

Correspondent

The opportunity to be a part of something new is always intriguing. For King’s Fork High School senior Matt Hommell, it comes with fulfilling one of his lifelong dreams. That’s getting to continue to play football in college while getting an education.

On Wednesday at a press conference with family, friends, teammates and coaches in attendance, Hommell signed a scholarship to play college football at Alderson-Broaddus, a Division II start-up program in West Virginia.

“I always envisioned myself playing college football, especially during the summer, when I got positive feedback from some coaches,” Hommell said. “They’re definitely going to field a competitive team. The main reason I picked them was the five years of eligibility and a really good chance of starting as a true freshman.”

Alderson-Broaddus is an extremely small campus of approximately 850 people. It’s located in a tiny city called Philippi, with a population of about 600 people. Alderson-Broaddus will be playing all road games next season against Division III opponents, including a couple trips to Virginia against Bridgewater and Lynchburg.

Their first home game in 2013 versus Pace University is expected to be televised. They’ll also play such notable Division II programs as Chowan and Concord.

The school is building an $8.6-million facility for football with turf field, estimated to be the second-most expensive stadium at the Division II level. Alderson-Broaddus’ head coach, Dennis Creehan, also serves as the athletic director.

At 6 feet and 180 pounds, Hommell overcame being smaller than some other quarterbacks by using his smarts and toughness.

“I still remember going to his house after we had a coach’s meeting and decided we were going to make a change at quarterback, and move our quarterback at the time to running back to get him some more touches,” said King’s Fork head coach Joe Jones, a former NFL player and college football standout at Virginia Tech. “Matt came in and finished out the year respectably and showed a lot of promise.”

King’s Fork made some changes offensively during Hommell’s tenure with the Bulldogs. They went from a spread attack to the triple-option, which for some can be a much more sophisticated and complex system to grasp. Hommell got the hang of it pretty quickly, proving to be a threat passing as well as running.

“When we went to the triple-option, I had Matt in mind. He’s very smart and picked it up well, and when you run the triple-option, it’s all on the quarterbacks,” Jones pointed out. “I tell the quarterbacks my future coaching is in your hands, because no matter what we call, you’re reading it all. He did a good job reading it, and I felt that would come in handy at this point when he goes to the next level.”

Although King’s Fork didn’t make the playoffs in any of Hommell’s seasons as the team’s signal caller, Jones is confident he will show his effectiveness at Alderson-Broaddus.

“They’re getting a great arm, someone who loves throwing the ball, and he’s going to love being in that system,” Jones said. “He’s intelligent and is going to make good decisions, plus has a great work ethic. Being a wrestler as well, there’s never been any question about his work ethic, and he’s a true competitor that won’t back down from anybody.”

Hommell plans to major in sports management. And he’s got high hopes for the program.

“The main thing I want in football is to go undefeated and get a championship,” Hommell noted. “That’s what I’m going to aim for, and won’t go into any game expecting anything less. By the sounds of it, the whole team is on board with the same mindset.”