By Cole Maguire and Harry Ochs

Next fall, the Panthers football team is guaranteed to be represented at the collegiate level.

This past Wednesday, offensive lineman Stephan Ellis committed via Twitter to play football at Saint Joseph’s College.

Saint Joseph’s is a Division II college located in Rensselaer, Indiana. Saint Joseph’s plays in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, which includes a local team in University of Indianapolis. Saint Joseph’s has been consistently good, finishing above or right below .500 in the past five seasons.

Ellis had many other options to choose from when it came down to where he wanted to play. His other top schools were Olivet Nazarene University, University of Saint Francis Joliet, and Marian.

Having these other options made the decision where to play quite difficult.

“At first, it’s fun, but once it comes down to it you don’t want to be the bad guy and have to tell a coach that you don’t want to be on his team,” Ellis said.

Even though it was a hard decision to make, Ellis fell in love with Saint Joseph’s.

“I really like the environment and the teammates. It’s a good program, and it’s really good for academics,” Ellis said.

Ellis joins Bowling Green commit Walter Haire and Olivet Nazarene commit Deonte Roberts as seniors that have already committed to play college football.