Fork Union Starts Camp Early Preparing for ESPNU Game

By: Nathan Sulham - Email

Posted: Tue 10:38 PM, Aug 07, 2012

The Fork Union football team would usually still be at home this time of season.

But there the Blue Devils were, opening training camp Tuesday night a full six days earlier than usual, all in preparation for the team's opener August 25th against Hermitage, a game set to be nationally televised on ESPNU.

FUMA coach Mickey Sullivan hasn't been shy about his excitement in seeing his team on the national stage, even if the early clash moves camp a bit earlier than he would like.

Still, the veteran Blue Devils coach couldn't deny his players the opportunity of a lifetime.

"it's just a great opportunity for a bunch of young guys. It's like I told the families this morning, they'll be tied together forever. This is the first time this has ever happened and it will be something they remember the rest of their lives," Sullivan said.

Undoubtedly one of the key drawing points for ESPN towards having Fork Union in the game was senior quarterback Christian Hackenberg, who the network's high school recruiting division has ranked as the top signal caller in the nation.

Hackenberg joins his teammates in their excitement of the game but credits the Blue Devils before him for the opportunity.

"I credit it to a lot of the teams before us who established a tradition at Fork Union and we're just the lucky bunch who actually get to go do it so I'm looking forward to it," he said. "It's going to be a great opportunity and great exposure for a lot of these guys and you know, just have fun."

Jenkins, Styslinger Still Alive at NCAA's

The comments sections of Newsplex.com are designed for thoughtful, intelligent conversation and debate. We want to hear from our viewers, but we only ask that you use your best judgment. E-mail is required, but will not be displayed with comment.

Comments cannot be profane or vulgar. We will not post comments that use profanity or cross the lines of good taste.

We will not post comments that use hate speech. Slurs, stereotypes and violent talk aren’t welcome on our website.

Comments should not attack other readers or people featured in our stories personally. Any accusations should be backed up with facts.

Any comment we post will be posted in its entirety. We do not edit any comment that we post.

Comments should contribute to the discussion. We will not post comments that don't advance the discussion. Flaming and/or trolling will not be tolerated.

Comments should not attack other posters. Let's keep the focus on the content of the story.

As a host Newsplex.com welcomes a wide spectrum of opinions. However this is a site that we host. We have a responsibility to all our readers to try to keep our comment section fair and decent. For that reason The Newsplex reserves the right to not post or to remove any comment.

If you have any ideas to improve the conversation or this section let us know. Send an e-mail to webmaster@newsplex.com.