Amherst’s Ahmed Elfawal II commits to Castleton football

AMHERST – Ahmed Elfawal II took a winding road to arrive at the perfect place.

The Amherst Regional senior committed to play football at Castleton University on Monday. The Vermont institution allowed him ton continue his football career as well as pursue a criminal justice education.

Westfield State didn’t show as much interest as he wanted, and it was also a little too close to home.

“I know it’s still New England, but I want to explore what else is out there,” Elfawal said.

Castleston coach Tony Volpone inquired about Elfawal’s availability through Amherst athletic director Victoria Stewart  when he was verbally committed to Western New England. Volpone drove down to Amherst and met Elfawal in January. Once he was accepted and worked out the financial aid aspect, Elfawal committed to the Spartans.

He expects to play defensive back at the next level after playing all over the field for the Hurricanes this fall.

“Younger me would definitely not have wanted to do all that type of work, but doing that really opened my eyes to hey there’s more than just safety and corner, there’s more positions I’m capable of playing,” Elfawal said. “He also said he’ll keep his mind open to wherever is needed to play. Me being a young kid coming in to their program, whatever patches needed to be filled, I told them I’ll do it.”

Elfawal showed he’ll go where he can play even during his high school career. He was a member of Amherst’s Western Massachusetts championship squad in 2019 before transferring Northampton in 2020 hoping the Blue Devils would play. Then he returned to Amherst this past fall.

“Our seniors were getting hurt, we had a young team and we were just trying to live,” Elfawal said.

Now he’ll get to continue his career close to home but not too close. His parents will still be able to attend his games, and Castleton operates on a schedule that allows for a vacation week after four weeks of school. 

“That’s a driving factor,” he joked.

Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kg********@ga********.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.