The Commitment: Part 2

The Commitment: Part 2
ACC rookie faces team that wanted him, then changed its mind
By Sheryl McAlister, a writer based in Columbia, SC

Clemson sits alone at the top of the Atlantic Coast Conference with a perfect 4-0 record and a 7-0 record overall. Only Florida State at 6-1 overall and 4-1 in league play is close. In a very distant third sits Louisville at (2-2 and 3-4). Wake Forest sits close to the bottom at 1-4 in the ACC and 3-5 overall.

Wake Forest and Louisville play each other this weekend in a matchup that on any other college football weekend would have only the faithful fans of the Cardinals and the Deacs paying attention. This Friday, there is an exception. When freshman Matt Colburn takes the field, you can bet he will have a much different perspective of the significance of this game.

The Wake Forest media guide lists Colburn as a 5-foot-10, 195 pound tailback. He wears No. 22.

Last year on National Signing Day, Colburn expected a commitment he had made to the Cardinals to play football would be honored. Why wouldn’t it, after all? He was the 2014 South Carolina Mr. Football, and a star athlete at Irmo’s Dutch Fork High School. He and Louisville had reached an agreement. Until Louisville changed its mind. Oh, the Cardinals wanted him. Just not in the way they had agreed. Read The Commitment (Part 1) to learn what happened.

Colburn signed with Wake Forest in early February, 2015. And when the two teams take the field this Friday, Oct. 30, in Winston Salem, NC, I suspect more than a few people will be watching his performance.

I wish him the best game of his young life.

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Watch Wake Forest vs. Louisville. Friday, Oct. 30, 7 pm. ESPN2.

Copyright 2015 Sheryl McAlister©

Other sports stories by Old Broad & New Trix: They’re All That; ‘Because you went so far … And never gave up’; A Triple Crown Season to Remember