Wednesday (2/2) was the first day that NCAA Division 2 and 3 and NAIA schools could sign football players to national letters of intent.   Three Oskaloosa Indians have signed to attend William Penn University next fall: running back Darryl Fane, defensive back Ryan Hafner and linebacker Ikaika Opheim.  Statesmen Coach Todd Hafner talks about getting three Oskaloosa players to stay home for college ball.

“It’s always good when you can go into your local school and the kids want to stay.  I think it says a lot about what we’re doing at William Penn and the educational opportunities that our kids have to go and get their degree and feel good about what they’re going to do after school.  The fact that these three young men decided that they wanted to be with us is pretty special.”

If you were wondering, Ryan Hafner is the son of Statesmen Coach Todd Hafner.  Ryan talks about becoming a Statesman.

“I’ve been thinking about this since I was way little watching the games, watching the players running around.  Especially my brother, when he signed.  It was awesome.  I want to be just like him.”

Ryan’s older brother, Tyler Hafner, was a quarterback at William Penn from 2012 to 2015.

Elsewhere, Montezuma’s Eddie Burgess has signed to play Division 2 football at Upper Iowa this fall. Burgess had a stellar career with the Braves.  He was an 8-man first team All-State linebacker this past season.  He passed for 2126 yards and 28 touchdowns last fall and also rushed for 1249 yards and 26 touchdowns.  Not only that, Burgess caught five touchdown passes and intercepted nine passes as a linebacker.  A press release from Upper Iowa says the Peacocks plan to use Burgess as a tight end.