Starting quarterback Mitchell Jonke has committed to play football for Brown University next year. He led the varsity team last year into the semifinals of the state championship and has started all six games for the Eagles this season.

Jonke started looking at colleges last year after he received his first offer from Brown. Until then, Jonke hadn’t thought about going to an Ivy League school.

“Mainly for me, it was about comfortability at the school,” Jonke said. “Seeing how schooling and football works there, and how you can balance [school and athletics] with just being comfortable.”

Brown is part of the Ivy League, which head football coach Terry Gambill believes is a great opportunity for Jonke’s career after football.

“There’s going to be a day where they all are going to quit playing football, and once you have a degree, you can never have that taken away,” Gambill said. “Once [Jonke] graduates from Brown, he’s going to be set to go get a job and start his career; it’s such a great university.”

For Jonke, his family was a big part in deciding which university to commit to. He says that they keep him humble, and they are whom he goes to for advice.

“Probably the people that had the biggest influence on a person such as Mitchell is his family, and the family has to sit and make sure that it’s the right fit for everyone,” Gambill said.

Athletic Academic Advisor Cory Cain says that the process from receiving an offer to actually committing can take months.

“[The university wants] to know everything from his family life, what he does off the field and what his strengths and weaknesses are,” Cain said. “We, as coaches, focus on asking the hard questions: what you like about the school, what do you dislike, what do you know about the coaching staff and their roster and what do you know about the weather and the dorms.”

Cain says that Jonke is well prepared for college athletics after playing at Allen because he believes that Jonke has been tested at the highest level in high school football.

“He’s a very smart football player,” Gambill said. “He’ll always be very prepared because that’s what he does—he prepares himself to be successful both on and off the field—and a lot of young people don’t do that, but Mitchell, he does.”

Jonke says that he believes Brown is great for him for his education and comfort.

“The schooling is phenomenal there,” Jonke said. “You’re just going to get a great education there and get to play football; there’s nothing [more] I can ask for.”

This season so far, Jonke has thrown for a total of 1070 passing yards and has a 64 percent completion rate. Both Cain and Gambill agree that his intelligence and football skills will help him after high school.

“It’s just a great honor to coach somebody that’s able to go [to] and continue his career at the Ivy League schools such as Brown, and he’s done nothing but great things here at Allen,” Gambill said. “We wish him nothing but the best.”