{"id":24645,"date":"2012-05-23T05:52:01","date_gmt":"2012-05-23T10:52:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/?p=24645"},"modified":"2012-05-23T07:44:03","modified_gmt":"2012-05-23T12:44:03","slug":"knight-trio-signs-letters-with-bluffton-u","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2012\/05\/23\/knight-trio-signs-letters-with-bluffton-u\/","title":{"rendered":"Knight trio signs letters with Bluffton U."},"content":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n

CONVOY — It\u2019s not often that you see three players from the same high school sign letters of intent to attend the same college, but that\u2019s what happened Tuesday when Jared Burger, Matt Holden and Chase Walters all signed letters to play for Bluffton University (click here<\/a><\/strong> for a larger photo).<\/p>\n

The decision to play for the Beavers, though, was more of a desire to play football at the college level, rather than a wish to stay together. \u201cI just wanted to play football,\u201d said Matt Holden, with a smile. \u201cI like both these guys, but they weren\u2019t really the deciding factor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Crestview football players (seated, from the left) Chase Walters, Matt Holden and Jared Burger sign letters of intent to play for Bluffton University while their parents, Athletic Director Dave Bowen (standing, left) and Coach Jared Owens (standing, right) look on. (Dave Mosier\/Van Wert independent)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Burger, a lineman for the Knights who played on both offense and defense, made it clear that he was the first of the three to pick Bluffton. A four-year letter winner at Crestview and first team All-Northwest Conference selectee, Burger said he plans to double major in information technology and business.<\/p>\n

Holden, who plans to major in premed, but hasn\u2019t decided which of the premed majors at this point, said he liked Bluffton Head Coach Tyson Veidt, but also said he feels the Beavers are poised for success.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they\u2019re on the rise,\u201d Holden noted. \u201cThey had a pretty successful year last year and I want to be a part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Holden, a Second Team All-NWC running back for the Knights, as well as a defensive back, said he\u2019s not sure if he\u2019ll again play both offense and defense this coming season, but felt he would do what was needed to contribute to the team.<\/p>\n

Walters, a four-year letter winner for Crestview and the quietest of the three, said he plans to major in criminal justice at Bluffton.<\/p>\n

Like Holden, Burger also liked Coach Veidt and said he quickly felt like a part of the Beaver football team after a campus visit.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir coach, right off the bat, made me feel like I was their star player,\u201d Burger said, adding that being given the chance to sit down and eat with current Bluffton team members was also important to him. \u201cI got to learn a lot about the team, and it made me feel like a part of the team right from the get-go.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/independent editor CONVOY — It\u2019s not often that you see three players from the same high school sign letters of intent to attend the same college, but that\u2019s what happened Tuesday when Jared Burger, Matt Holden and Chase Walters all signed letters to play for Bluffton University (click here for a larger photo). The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-21 16:04:43","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24645\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}