The Saline Reporter
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Hornets make college commitments
Burchyett heads to GVSU, Bennyhoff to snap at Central
By Jerry Hinnen, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: February 14, 2008
The "national" part of college football's National Signing Day Feb. 6 means it happens in Saline, too, and this year two Hornet football players took the occasion to make their decisions on where to continue their careers official.
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Saline's All-State wide receiver Sam Burchyett signed a scholarship offer to run routes for NCAA Division II powerhouse Grand Valley State in Grand Rapids. Teammate Brian Bennyhoff committed as a preferred walk-on to play for the Chippewas of Central Michigan, who will use the former Hornet center as a long snapping specialist.
"It's great to have it out of the way and get the anxiety over with," Burchyett said. "It worked out just the way I wanted to and I'm ready to start the next chapter of my career."
"It's absolutely awesome," Bennyhoff said. "It's always been a dream of mine to play college football at any level, so to have the opportunity to join a Division I program, I'm ecstatic about it."
Burchyett had received interest from larger programs than GVSU's, but none more successful. The Lakers won four national championships in five years from 2002 to 2006 and Burchyett, who caught 43 balls for 843 yards and 12 touchdowns in his senior season, feels he may be able to contribute to that tradition sooner rather than later.
"You have to like the success they've had," he said, "and I think I could potentially play earlier than I would at a bigger school."
But what sealed Burchyett's commitment was his familiarity with the program, from attending its football camps, and the school itself, from an older sister already attending GVSU.
"It really felt like the right place from the beginning," he said. "I really love the campus and I already know my way around."
For Bennyhoff, his road to CMU actually began hundreds of miles away in Las Vegas, where he first attracted the Chippewas' attention at a long snapping camp.
Bennyhoff, who was recently one of only 22 Michigan athletes named first-team Academic All-State, would go on to visit a handful of other schools. But he said that CMU and Mount Pleasant were far and away his top choice.
"It felt like home," he said. "It's not a real big city, but it's not a real small town, either. It was everything I expected."
Bennyhoff won't have a scholarship his freshman year, but his preferred walk-on status means both that he will be a top candidate when slots open up later and that there will be no difference between himself and scholarship players in the day-to-day running of the team.
"You get the same equipment, the same opportunities all the other players do," he said.
Saline head coach Mike Glennie said that he expects both Burchyett and Bennyhoff to be stellar representatives of Saline as they continue their football careers.
"These are hardworking kids who have made a commitment to both their athletics and academics," he said. "They're solid guys who are going to be successful at the next level. We're proud of them. It's a great thing for our program."
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