Area standouts present and past cash in on signing day

[private]If fans enjoyed watching the football exploits from the likes of Bronson Bupp and Ethan Hull at Ithaca, Bruce Thelen at Fulton, or even Pauly Seeley back to his freshman year at Alma, they will be able to follow them on the gridiron beyond high school, as all have signed to play in college.
Alma College, coming off the most successful season in school history winning the MIAA championship and then reaching the second round of the NCAA Division 3 playoffs, cleaned up locally, signing the Gratiot County co-offensive players of the year, Thelen and Bupp.
Thelen, who played both running back and quarterback for the Pirates, is making the rare jump from 8-man football to college ball. As a senior he led Fulton to a playoff appearance rushing 241 times for 2,638 yards and 37 touchdowns and was 29-of-43 passing for 686 yards and 11 touchdowns. Thelen also made 12 receptions for 229 yards and five touchdowns. Going both ways for the Pirates, as a defensive back he made 80 tackles and six interceptions. He was named first-team 8-man all-state by the Associated Press.
Ithaca’s quarterback, Bupp was back-to-back county offensive player of the year. As a senior he was under center as the Yellowjackets won league and district championships. He was 105-of-184 passing for 1,732 yards and 18 touchdowns and rushed 172 times for 1,193 yards and 28 touchdowns. As a defensive back he made 36 tackles. In his tenure Bupp completed 189-of-355 passes for 3,059 yards and 34 touchdowns while running 365 times for 2,888 yards and 52 scores.
“He was our best overall football player and hardest working player,” Ithaca coach Jordan Hessbrook said.
Bupp’s name was often linked with his favorite receiving target, Hull, who is headed to the nations’s top NCAA Division 2 conference, the GLIAC, after signing with Michigan Tech.
Hull was voted first-team all-state for Division 7-8 by the Associated Press after a senior season in which he had 46 receptions for 963 yards and 11 touchdowns. He also returned a punt for a touchdown and in the defensive backfield had 30 tackles and an interception. For his prep career, Hull fnished with 70 catches for 1,501 yards and 17 touchdowns.
Seeley was Alma’s starting quarterback as only a freshman in the 2019 season. He played the following three seasons at New Hampsead High School in Savannah, Ga. He signed with Wofford College, an NCAA Division 1 FCS school in South Carolina.
As a senior Seeley became the first New Hampstead player in the 42-year history of the honor to win the Finocchiaro Award, which is given to the top player in Chatham County, Ga. He earned the accolade by throwing for 2,517 yards and 29 touchdowns. In his junior season Seeley passed for 1,925 yards and 22 touchdowns. He also had offers from Western Kentucky, Middle Tennessee State, Elon and Bowling Green — where his father Paul Seeley was a quarterback, and a star track-and-field athlete at the school, as was Pauly’s mother Tracy Seeley. /[private]