This summer, Malvern senior quarterback Alex Hornibrook announced that he will be playing football at the University of Pittsburgh.  But he’ll be going there sooner than you might think.

Hornibrook announced that he will be graduating from Malvern this December in order to enroll early at Pitt and participate in the spring football practices in games. This has become an increasingly popular thing for Division 1 football players to do, and will give him a head start heading into the fall of his freshman season.

“It’s a great advantage to be able to go up early and get adjusted to classes and football before the season starts,” said Hornibrook.

Hornibrook will be joining a high powered Pitt offense lead by halfback James Conner and wide receiver Tyler Boyd.

While football will certainly be a large part of the spring for Hornibrook, he will also be a full time college student taking classes like everyone else enrolled in the university. In the spring, most football programs hold regular practices, and the spring season culminates in an inter-squad scrimmage. At Pitt, this is the Blue and Gold game.

Before heading off to school, Hornibrook and the Friars still have some business to attend to. Currently at 1-1, with a win against Holy Spirit and a loss to Roman Catholic, the football team is still determined to achieve their goal of winning the Inter-Ac.

“Right now the only thing I’m focused on is this season,” said Hornibrook. “It’s going to be awesome, and we’re looking to do some big things.”

Though Hornibrook is excited about the opportunity to go to Pitt early, he will also miss being at Malvern for the end of his senior year.

“The people are what I’ll miss the most,” he said.  “Malvern is an awesome place and I truly love everything about it. It will be hard not being able to see my brothers every day, but I’m looking forward to coming back and spending some time with them.”

UPDATE: Hornibrook later changed his commitment to the University of Wisconsin. Read more here: https://lantern.news/2015/01/29/alex-hornibrook-commits-to-wisconsin/