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Chisago Lakes High School senior and quarterback Andy Willhite has signed to play football at the University of Wisconsin - River Falls starting in the 2009-2010 season. Willhite, a three-sport star in football, diving and baseball, picked River Falls over several other interested schools, including the University of Minnesota-Duluth, University of Wisconsin-Stout and the University of South Florida.

Willhite's parents, Brad and Lisa Willhite of Chisago City, are understandably proud of their son. Lisa is the diving coach at Chisago Lakes High School. She said, "We're glad Andy chose some place fairly close to home so we can watch him play. It's been fun watching Andy develop as an athlete and we were interested to see which sport he chose to pursue in college. We're happy he chose football."

Willhite is close to his high school coaches, offensive coordinator Jeff Saueressig and special teams coordinator and defensive backs coach Jon Pieper. Both played football at River Falls. Saueressig, in fact, was a quarterback and the offensive MVP at River Falls in 1988 and 1989. "The most impressive thing about Andy is his athleticism," said Saueressig. "Also, he's fast and he's quick and that's what they're looking for in college. That will help him no matter where he goes. We used him at quarterback here at Chisago Lakes for those same reasons. That's where he made the biggest contribution for us. He could have been a full-time starter for us on defense if he hadn't been a quarterback. As it was, he played cornerback on passing downs. His ability to jump, his quickness and his knowledge of the game helped us out a lot."

Willhite did, in fact, play cornerback regularly his sophomore year in high school. When his brother David went down with a knee injury, Andy took over for him and played well. Andy was the only sophomore to see any varsity playing time that season, a pretty impressive achievement. Willhite, for his part, can see himself playing running back or cornerback in college. "I talked with my college coaches," said Willhite. "They watched some video of me and liked my speed. Running back and cornerback require a little bit less size and strength than a quarterback does in college." A check of the River Falls football team recruit list on the school's website shows Willhite listed as a running back.

Willhite is still undecided about his college major, but is leaning toward computer logistics and management. This summer, he'll be working on the State Fair grounds crew with his brother Brian, umpiring some baseball games and teaching some swimming lessons for his mom's business.

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