BALTIMORE — They started making history as back-to-back state football champs at Dunbar High School, but this celebration is about the future of these star athletes.
"You don't have this happen every day where you have 10 African American boys from an urban community not just excel on the field but academically," shared Dr. Yetunde Reeves, the principal of Dunbar High.
The student-athletes out of East Baltimore are making their own history.
"Every time I look at them, I'm a proud pop," said head coach Lawrence Smith.
Smith isn't proud of more than the two-state championships this bunch won. He's proud of the team's average 3.2 GPA, and the more than 73 scholarship offers from schools like the University of Maryland, the Army, Cornell, and Penn State. In all more than $18 million was awarded to these students, so their families won't have to spend anything on college.
"Something I dreamed of and worked hard for since I was a little kid," shared Ebubedike, who plans to play at Delaware State.
"You know how it feels when your mother is proud of you," Devine Roche, told WMAR-2 News.
"He has great tenacity and you know we've been through a lot so I'm really proud of him," expressed Roche's mother.
It's not just mom that's proud.
"Devin Roche is our star quarterback and their 9th graders have him as their screensaver," shared his principal.
His teammate Joshua Fedd has his sights set on Harvard but his mind is on the legacy he'll leave by going.
"When I was in that 9th-grade position they're going to see that this was possible. It's possible to go to the Ivy League. It's possible to go to a Power-5 school," Fedd said.
I feel incredibly grateful and very proud of Josh and all of his hard work and just looking forward to the next chapter," Fedd's mother expressed.
Some of the players had overcome great adversity to get to this point.
Shantron Monroe taking his moment to take it all in after losing his mom during the football season.
"If you saw when I was talking and I broke down for a little bit, it's like even at times like that I know they got me. They're there for me," said Monroe.
"It made me feel safe. It's like a family-type thing," he continued.
Seeing their goals through is what they all have in common now.
"It means everything to me. Since he was 7 years old put a football in his hand, he said mom I'm going to school free and I'm going to make you proud and he's been doing that since day one," remembered Michelle Simmons, whose son will go on to play at Lafayette University.
"It means the world to me. That's the program," shared coach Smith.
Dunbar High football players who signed for National Signing Day are listed below along with the schools they'll attend:
Tavias Brown—Virginia State University
Kelby Carter-Morgan state
Josh Fedd -Harvard University
Tony Hart- Elon
Dave Jones -Bethany College
Tristen Kenan- University of Maine
Shantron Monroe- Seton Hill University
Ebubedike Nnbugwu- Delaware State
Devin Page Jr. -Lafayette University
Devin Roche- Old Dominion
Donald Smith- Morgan State
