By BAKER ELLIS / Sports Editor

CHELSEA – On Friday, March 18, three seniors from Chelsea committed to continuing their football careers at the collegiate level with the decision to attend Birmingham-Southern College. Blake Travelstead, David Hardenbaugh and Michael Waller will all take their talents to the Division III program after a triumvirate of very successful prep careers.

All three were three-year starters on Chelsea’s defense, and Hardenbaugh started games as a freshman as well. Travelstead and Hardenbaugh made up two-thirds of Chelsea’s linebacking corps, along with fellow senior Justin Painter, while Waller played free safety as a senior after spending two years as a cornerback.

“We set up our defense around those four,” Chelsea head football coach Chris Elmore said. “We tried to funnel as much as we could toward them.”

Elmore came to Chelsea when this crop of seniors were sophomores. As new coaches tend to do, Elmore brought with him a system and approach that differed from what was done before he arrived. That transition can be tough at times, however Elmore said Waller, Travelstead and Hardenbaugh handled that transition wonderfully, and have never questioned anything they have been told to do.

“The bottom line on those three, when you talk about commitment, that’s the word that defines them,” Elmore said. “(They’ve) never questioned anything we’ve done. We brought in a new defensive coordinator when I came in, then for their senior year we switched things up on defense as well. Those three never questioned anything. They don’t ask why, they just do it. They have not wavered a second the entire time they’ve been here.”

Birmingham-Southern is a Division III school that plays football in the Southern Athletic Association along with Centre College, Berry College and Sewanee, to name a few. Waller, Travelstead and Hardenbaugh will all enroll at Birmingham-Southern after graduation and compete for playing time right away.