Brett Borske won’t make any bones about the fact he was hoping to get an offer from a Big Ten program.
But for the Neuqua Valley senior tight end, the opportunity to join what P.J. Fleck is building up at Western Michigan was too good to pass up.
The 6-foot-7, 230-pound Borske pledged his commitment to Fleck and the Broncos during an on-campus visit on Saturday, two days before he and the rest of his teammates open fall camp on Monday.
“I visited there (Saturday) and I was very impressed with what I got to see,” Borske said. “I got to meet the whole coaching staff. I was very impressed with them and then the facilities, the campus, like just the overall program and atmosphere. I just fell in love with it for the most part. I didn’t want to pass up that opportunity because (Fleck) only had a couple more spots open for commits and there was going to be potentially be a couple more in the next couple of days.”
Borske had seven scholarship offers and chose Western Michigan over offers from Nevada, Buffalo, Wyoming and Illinois State.
He had been talking with Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois, but he says the commitment to Fleck and the Broncos is firm “unless for some reason why I’d want to switch.”
Fleck, a former Northern Illinois wide receiver, guided the Broncos to an 8-5 record last year, a year after he and the Broncos won just one game in 2013.
The charismatic Fleck, who enters his third year up in Kalamazoo, Mich. when the Broncos play host to sixth-ranked Michigan State on Sept. 4, has been a force on the recruiting trail.
Borske definitely took notice.
“He’s a very approachable coach,” he said of the 34-year-old Fleck. “Right off the bat, when I met him, just felt a good chemistry with him. He’s very laid back, very down-to-earth. I just felt like I had a good relationship with him. He has a good relationship with his players, so I just thought he was a very good coach.”
With four touchdown receptions for the Wildcats in 2014, Borske proved to be a big security blanket for Broc Rutter, who threw for a combined 4,131 yards and 52 touchdowns in his two years under center for the Wildcats.
Rutter has now moved on to Indiana State, Borske will look to build on his 10 receptions for 180 yards as Jack Stankoven, Jack Bastable and Riley Foran battle throughout camp to take Rutter’s place.
“I’m very excited,” Borske said. “This is my last year to be able to play with the guys. Just ball out; just do whatever I can to help my team win. Whatever I can. It’ll be a blast. I can’t wait to play with the guys.”
On the heels of a 6-4 season in 2014, Neuqua Valley begins its first season in the DuPage Valley Conference on Aug. 28 at Metea Valley.
