Keegan Sell ready for new chapter at Grand Valley State University

Garfield graduate Keegan Sell’s college career in wrestling and football was etched in the school’s record books. He’s now hitting the reset button as he continues his football career at Grand Valley State University this fall.

“I’m super excited,” Sell told the Weekly Villager on June 11. “I’m a little nervous. It’s a new place about six hours away so it’s going to be different and it’s going to be a whole new experience meeting new people. Experiencing college football has always been a dream of mine since I was I’m a child, it’s like starting all over again.

For the Grand Valley State University commit, it all started when he brought home a wrestling registration form. He said his father was a big fan of WWE wrestling and Sell said he initially thought participating in youth wrestling would be like that.

He quickly realized he was a little out of line.

“I remember it being really difficult,” he said. “It’s just two hours of hard work and there’s hardly any stopping and it’s very physical and it’s maybe more mental than football with how hard it is, but it was definitely hard.”

Sell ​​also started playing football because he was a big fan of the sport and began participating in flag football competitions. Unlike flag football, Sell could be quite physical even in youth wrestling, but he struggled in flag football because he was not allowed to put hands on his opponent.

“I don’t think I was very good at flag football,” he admitted. “I started pushing and I got a little too aggressive and excited. I was ready to start attacking.

Sell’s two primary positions were cornerback and linebacker, but once he was old enough to play tackle football, he became a natural choice as a linebacker because he wanted to be involved where most of the action took place at the line of scrimmage.

According to Sell, competing in soccer also taught him that it was okay to rely on help from others.

“I definitely think I wasn’t as dependent on people as I was when I was younger,” he said. “I don’t think I thought it was a team sport, but now that I’m older and I see a person carry themselves a lot easier on a team or on a field, it really shows you how you are just a small member of a well-oiled team or group machine.

As physically demanding as wrestling and playing football, Sell found he could apply the same techniques to both sports, making him a better athlete.

He said he didn’t know where he would fit in as an athlete because he didn’t compete in both sports in all four years of his high school career.

“They’re probably two of the most physical sports you can play in high school, so just being tougher makes you stronger in ways that people can’t understand,” he said. he noted. “There are muscles you can get for wrestling that you can’t get with other things, so that translates to football.”

After playing on the 2021 football team that reached the Division V regional semifinal and after reaching the Division III state semifinal in wrestling during his sophomore campaign, Sell made d huge progress during his junior season.

Although the football team’s season ended in the regional quarterfinals, Sell dominated wrestling his senior season, becoming one of two Garfield wrestlers to win the first individual state wrestling championships in school history alongside teammate Hunter Andel.

After Sell’s triumphant junior wrestling season, he said more and more colleges began to notice him and he garnered several additional offers, some just for wrestling, others for football and more. ‘others to become a dual-sport athlete in college.

After his senior football season ended when the team again reached the regional semifinal before bowing out to Perry, Sell committed to Grand Valley State to play football.

He said the culture at Grand Valley State University reminded him a lot of Garfield.

“The culture, the desire to improve and get better, and the family aspect is very close and it’s something I really want to be a part of to become a better person over the next four to five years or as long as I can be up there,” he said.

Sell ​​finished his high school career by winning another Division III state wrestling crown and becoming the only two-time state champion in school history and a member of one of the longest senior classes. winningest in football.

“God has really blessed me with the year I’ve had,” he said. “It’s truly remarkable and I have nothing else to say except that I will never forget this year. I’m sure few people forget their senior year, but there was still something special this year.