-It's very rare that a Vermont high school football player gets a look from a Division I college program, let alone is actively recruited. It is even more rare for a Vermonter to get a scholarship from a big-time football program.
He had to leave his hometown to do it, but Willem Thurber of West Brattleboro defied those long odds and will be playing football in the Atlantic Coast Conference for the University of Virginia (UVA) in the fall of 2025.
Thurber, the youngest of Ross and Amanda Ellis Thurber's three children, made his official commitment to UVA on Dec. 4, which was National Signing Day for college football athletes across the country.
In the 2020–22 school years, Thurber played football for head coach Chad Pacheco in his freshman and sophomore year at Brattleboro Union High School. He was also a standout in baseball and basketball at BUHS. He then transferred to play his final three prep seasons at Deerfield (Mass.) Academy.
At 6-foot-5 and 235 pounds, Thurber played tight end and established himself as one of the top players in Massachusetts high school football at that position. In his junior year at Deerfield, he was part of a squad that went 7-3 and won the Danny Smith Bowl over Belmont Hill. As a senior, Thurber was a first-team offensive selection to the Northeast Prep All-League Team and was a team captain who played as a defensive end during the recently completed 2024 season.
Over the past year or so, Thurber was being courted by the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, Duke, James Madison University, Dartmouth, Syracuse, Wake Forest, Harvard, Rutgers, Yale, the University of Connecticut, Maine, Boston College, Penn, and the University of Delaware. However, UVA was the school who was most interested.
Desmond Kitchings, UVA's offensive coordinator and tight ends coach, was the lead recruiter. On UVA's Signing Day broadcast, Kitchings called Thurber "a big, athletic, three-sport guy. He has some contact balance, does a good job catching the football and breaking tackles and being an extension for us in the passing game. He grew up on a dairy farm in Vermont, so he's a worker. That's what I love about him. He's a very humble kid, loves everything about playing ball, and he'll be a great fit for this program."
Writing on 247sports.com, National College Football writer Tom Loy said Thurber "is a guy that can play early for the Cavaliers. He gets separation, breaks tackles, has strong hands, is a fluid route runner, and is about as well-rounded a tight end as you'll find in the class. He's also a nasty blocker in the run game."
Thurber won't be the only Deerfield alum on the team. Quarterback Cole Geer of Griswold, Connecticut, will be joining Thurber in Charlottesville this fall. One of the top-rated quarterbacks coming out of Massachusetts prep football, Geer was hampered by a broken hand this fall, but UVA head football coach Tony Elliott said in a Dec. 4 news conference that he was impressed with Geer's athleticism and competitive spirit.
"Cole is a very, very good athlete," Elliott said. "Unfortunately he had the hand injury this season. But man, the guy is out there trying to play receiver, trying to do everything for his football team with a broken hand. The athleticism, the competitor, that's what we fell in love with in the beginning. We're excited about him."
Elliott said that signing Geer, Thurber, and wide receiver Triston Ward, a 2024 Deerfield graduate, to play at UVA was not a fluke. He said Deerfield "has the caliber of players that we desire" and called it "a school that naturally is just a seamless transition to the environment here at UVA." In other words, individuals who are as good in the classroom as they are on the playing field.
More Division I football schools are taking a closer look at Vermont student-athletes. Vermonters are played at that level this fall include Champlain Valley's Graham Walker (Rice University), Mount Anthony's Tanner Bushee (UNC-Charlotte), South Burlington's Michel Bergeron (Delaware State), and St. Johnsbury's Jake Cady (Wagner College).
It's a welcome trend for Vermont high school football, which usually doesn't get enough respect from the recruiters from the big colleges and universities. Congratulations, Willem, and good luck in Charlottesville.
A rough weekend for Mikaela Shiffrin
• It looked like a sports story that could practically write itself - the winningest Alpine skier in World Cup history, coming home to the state where she learned to ski, on her favorite mountain, in an event where she was the prohibitive favorite to win her 100th event in international competition.
But sporting events doesn't always follow the expected story line. The more than 20,000 spectators at Killington Mountain Resort and a national television audience on NBC didn't get to see Mikaela Shiffrin make history on Nov. 30.
Instead, the 29-year-old two-time Olympic gold medalist and 2013 graduate of the Northeast Kingdom's Burke Mountain Academy crashed just 12 seconds from the finish line. Shiffrin slipped, somersaulted, and skidded into two gates before slamming into a plastic fence. She was taken off the hill by sled and taken to Rutland Regional Medical Center.
Fortunately, her injuries were limited to what US Ski & Snowboard described as an abdominal puncture wound caused by one of the gates and "severe muscle trauma."
"Very lucky to not have worse," she told NBC the day after the crash.
Shiffrin's two teammates, both with Vermont ties, also experienced the highs and lows of World Cup competition on Thanksgiving weekend.
Paula Moltzan, a former University of Vermont student, nearly crashed at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, only to keep her balance on one ski and land in the top 15. This past weekend, the 30-year-old finished the giant slalom in fifth on the first day, only to hurt her shoulder during a spill in the slalom event.
"This race is probably my favorite on tour for a handful of reasons," Moltzan told reporters. "A, it's in Vermont. B, my family could be here. And C, the crowd is unreal. I may not be a Vermonter by birth, but I am a Vermonter by choice."
Nina O'Brien broke her leg at the 2022 Olympics and again at a 2023 training camp. But the 27-year-old, a 2015 Burke Mountain Academy graduate, came back to place sixth after the first day and 40th on day two.
"We're super excited to have this race in Killington," O'Brien told reporters. "I think you need to see it to feel it."
According to Killington, total attendance for the three days of events at the 2024 Stifel Killington Cup was 39,000. As for Shiffrin, the quest for her 100th career World Cup win will be on hold for a couple of months while she recovers from her injuries.
Fish & Wildlife Department has online license gift certificates
• Finding a gift that will continue to give for a full year is a challenge, but the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department says it has a solution on their website - gift certificates for Vermont hunting and fishing licenses.
It's a great gift for someone who hunts or fishes. Just go to the license section at vtfishandwildlife.com, fill out the gift certificate, pay for it online, and then print the certificate to present to the intended recipient.
The person who receives the certificate must then go to the website to redeem their certificate and purchase their licenses. The gift certificate will cover licenses for 2025 or for licenses in future years.
Senior bowling roundup
• After taking a week off due to inclement weather, the Brattleboro Senior Bowling League gathered for Week 13 of the fall/winter season at Brattleboro Bowl on Dec. 5. Number 3 (49-16) remains in first place, followed by Lucky Strikes (38-27), Slo Movers (37-28), Pin Heads (36-29), Spare Change (35-30), Candi Men (34-31), Wunderkind (28.5-36.5), Jerry's Team (26-39), Rick's Picks (22.5-42.5), and Aging Teens (19-46).
Doris Lake had the women's high handicap game (232) and series (655), while Milt Sherman had the men's high handicap game (267) and Robert Rigby had the high handicap series (705). Lucky Strikes had the high team handicap game (879), while Pin Heads had the high handicap series (2,498).
Rigby had the men's high scratch series (715) with games of 267, 233, and 215, while Kevin Napaver had a 678 series with games of 255, 213, and 210. Sherman had a 577 series with games of 246 and 184, Warren Corriveau Sr. had a 562 series with a 237 game, Mike Pavlovich had a 543 series with games of 199 and 181, Peter Deyo had a 542 series with games of 202 and 183, and Gary Montgomery had a 524 series with a 212 game. Others with notable games included John Laamanen (208), Ron Cargill (199), and Rick Westcott (187).
Nancy Dalzell had the women's high scratch series (433) and game (161). Those with notable games included Pam Greenblott (155) and Vicki Butynski (151).
Randolph T. Holhut , deputy editor of this newspaper, has written this column since 2010 and has covered sports in Windham County since the 1980s. Readers can send him sports information at [email protected]. Kevin O'Connor of VTDigger.org also contributed to this report.
This Sports column by Randolph T. Holhut was written for The Commons.