AMHERST \u2013\u00a0Ahmed Elfawal II took a winding road to arrive at the perfect place.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Westfield State didn\u2019t show as much interest\u00a0as he wanted, and it was also a little too close to home.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know it\u2019s still New England, but I want to explore what else is out there,\u201d Elfawal said.<\/p>\n
Castleston coach\u00a0Tony Volpone\u00a0inquired about Elfawal\u2019s availability through Amherst athletic director Victoria Stewart\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
He expects to play defensive back at the next level after playing all over the field for the Hurricanes this fall.<\/p>\n
\u201cYounger me would definitely not have wanted to do all that type of work, but doing that really opened my eyes to hey there\u2019s more than just safety and corner, there\u2019s more positions I\u2019m capable of playing,\u201d Elfawal said. \u201cHe also said he\u2019ll 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\u2019ll do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elfawal showed he\u2019ll go where he can play even during his high school career. He was a member of Amherst\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur seniors were getting hurt, we had a young team and we were just trying to live,\u201d Elfawal said.<\/p>\n
Now he\u2019ll 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a driving factor,\u201d he joked.<\/p>\n
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.<\/em><\/div>\n