Remember the teen who wrote ‘the open letter to football’? Well, he’ll play in college after all

Back in early November, Providence High’s Caleb Bellamy, a senior defensive back, wrote an open letter to the game of football he loves so much.

It was a few days before his last high school football game and he wondered if he would ever get to play again. The story was popular with readers, who sent tweets, texts and emails of encouragement.

“I know I’ll miss playing high school football,” Bellamy wrote, “the feeling of walking into school on a Friday morning, or walking in on a Monday after a win. I don’t have any college offers right now, so this could be my last game. It kind of makes me nervous. Football’s always been there for me and I don’t know how it’s going to be without it in my life. I’m going to miss it a lot.”

Bellamy didn’t sign on Wednesday’s National Signing Day when so many other high school football players signed with colleges. He turned down four other offers he had. But on Friday, Bellamy signed to play football at Guilford College, a Division III school in Greensboro. Guilford, which opened in 1837, has more than 2,100 students.

His story, after all, got a happy ending.

This story was originally published February 3, 2017 at 7:30 PM with the headline "Remember the teen who wrote ‘the open letter to football’? Well, he’ll play in college after all."