Call Helps Confirm Pfeifer's Choice of Kent State

If he wasn’t completely sure where his football destiny was about to take him, Brandt Pfeifer put in a call to someone who had been in the exact same position a year ago.

As Most Valuable Defensive Player in 2010, Max Keefe wound up taking a preferred walk-on spot at Miami of Ohio.

“He is in the same exact boat I am going to be in,” Pfeifer said. “Max loves it. He had a lot of good things to say about it. That made me confident in my decision based on what he told me.”

Combined with Kent State’s strong push to make him head east, Pfeifer will become a member of the Golden Flashes in the fall.

“They want me to be there,” Pfeifer said. “I really liked the love and respect I got from the coaches.”

was also being pursued by and had also unofficially visited fellow Mid-American Conference schools Ball State and Eastern Michigan. However, it was Kent State that extended the preferred walk-on invitation that gives Pfeifer a spot on the roster from Day One. And Kent State linebacker coach Marcus Freeman, a former Chicago Bear, made a point of staying in touch with Pfeifer.

“I thought I was being overlooked by the coaching staffs at the other schools,” Pfeifer said. “They offered to have me come as a walk-on, but Kent State was the only one that offered preferred walk-on and that’s what I liked about it – something a little more.”

Lake Forest coach Chuck Spagnoli isn’t surprised to see good things come Pfeifer’s way based on his approach to the game.

“He has a great passion to play football,” Spagnoli said. “He is as hungry and as intense a player I have ever known.”

Pfeifer demonstrated that during last fall’s North Suburban Conference Lake Division championship season at linebacker, making 56 tackles, seven quarterback sacks and 13.5 tackles-for-loss.

“Brandt was a great fit for us at linebacker because of his great size and strength, and he had really good speed,” Spagnoli said. “He could play sideline to sideline.”

That was one reason Pfeifer moved from defensive lineman to linebacker in eighth grade. “I really liked the hitting, and being able to play all over the place,” Pfeifer said.

He had played a variety of sports growing up, but by the end of the summer following his sophomore year, he dropped lacrosse and put his sole focus on football.

“I knew I wanted to play college football and so I devoted everything becoming a better football player,” he said.

He was spurred on after participating in the National Underclassmen Combine where he graded out among the top 15 linebackers. He also attended football camps at Indiana University, Oklahoma and Illinois and again, earning accolades as one of the top players at his position.

hitting Indiana, Purdue, Illinois, Northwestern and Ball State.

“The people who go there are serious about wanting to play college football and being good players,” Pfeifer said. “It was a good experience for me to see what my competition was. I felt I was the top linebacker at those camps, and it really boosted my confidence.”

Since this past season ended, Pfeifer has spent time in the weight room and at Lifetime Fitness working on his speed and agility. He will report to Kent State in August where the Golden Eagles are coming off a 5-7 overall, 4-4 marks in the MAC East Division where Miami of Ohio is also a member.

“I talked with schools at all different levels, but I always dreamed of playing at the Division One level,” Pfeifer said.

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