Veldheer to play Division II football at Hillsdale College

Thursday, January 13, 2005
By Kelly Hill

The Grand Rapids Press

Offers came from Notre Dame and Western Michigan University, but Jared Veldheer already had made his decision.

Veldheer, a 6-foot-7, 270-pound senior at Forest Hills Northern, has decided to continue his football career at Hillsdale College.

An offensive and defensive tackle for the Huskies the last two seasons, Veldheer announced last week that he has accepted a scholarship to play offensive tackle at the Division II school.

"He's good," said Brent Myers, who coached Veldheer during his two varsity seasons with the Huskies.

"His biggest plus is that he has great feet and great mobility for a guy his size. He can pass block and run block, obviously, since that's what we did here at Northern."

Veldheer, 17, was recruited by Notre Dame and WMU, but chose Hillsdale, in part because his brother, Aaron, played basketball at Hillsdale, prior to graduating in 2001.

"My brother went there and played basketball for a couple of years an he liked it there," Veldheer said last week. "I have been down to the campus a lot and I like the fact that it's a smaller school."

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