Exeter Duo Heading to Brown’s Gridiron

NewEnglandRecruitingReport.com | Saturday, January 31st, 2009

Tellef Lundevall and Patrick Donnelly, who thrive on both the basketball court and the football field, will head to Brown University next year and play football. 

The duo began their post-graduate year at Phillips Exeter Academy knowing they would be college athletes…but not quite sure in what sport.  Both players define what it means to be a two-sport star as they have excelled on both the football field and the basketball court. 

Lundevall came to Exeter by way of Highland Park High School in Chicago.  The plan for his post-graduate year was to play football in the fall and basketball in the winter and see which sport presented him with the best college options.  Unfortunately, that plan was altered when he suffered a wrist injury late in the fall that cost him the basketball season.  He was expected to be Exeter’s best athlete on the hardwood as well as one of their best overall players. 

Donnelly entered his post-graduate year with a similar plan.  He had a storied career at Longmeadow High school just outside of Springfield, Massachusetts where he was both the quarterback of the football team and the leading scorer on the basketball team.  He quickly developed a reputation as one of New England’s best long range shooters as well as someone who played the game with a ton of toughness. 

Donnelly and Lundevall hooked up plenty of times on the football field this season as Donnelly played quarterback and Lundevall wide receiver.  Now the duo will have the opportunity to do the same next year at Brown University.  Donnelly selected Brown over Holy Cross (football) and Amherst, where he would have had the opportunity to play both sports. 

While Donnelly will have the opportunity to contend for the starting quarterback position for the defending Ivy League champions, he will be leaving behind his passion for the game of basketball. 

"It was a hard thing, to know I might have to give up playing basketball," Donnelly told the Republican Sports Desk. "It took a lot of thinking. It was a big relief, the recruiting process is pretty stressful."

Consequently, the next month will be a pretty special time for the Massachusetts native, as he completes what appears to be the final basketball season of his career, as Phillips Exeter hopes to make a run in class A of the NEPSAC.

"I really think we play basketball in the best league in the country," he said. "We lost a game to Brewster Academy, and I ended up guarding (6-8, 240) Thomas Robinson, who's going to Kansas."