Brennon Garrison and Aaron Pace weren’t ready made college prospects when they arrived at Fork Union Military Academy, Garrison as a freshman from Orange and Pace as a sophomore from Scottsville.
But they both were willing to put in the work during their time at the Academy and on Tuesday they made their college plans official, with Garrison heading to Virginia Tech as an invited walk-on while Pace pledged to Averett University. And not just the work on the field.
“The academics are rigorous here, it’s a college prep school,” Garrison said. “You’re already away from home so there’s that aspect of it. I feel prepared for college.”
Garrison has been a key leader for the Blue Devils, a rock in transition years under two head coaches including Mike Hooper’s first season last fall. He served as a captain this year, part of a unique all-lineman group of captains that helped Hooper steady the ship and get Fork Union moving forward again. Garrison earned first team All-Scrimmage Play and All-VISAA Division I in addition to All-Prep League honors during the 2016 season. Garrison learned a lot in those four years.
“Without teamwork you don’t have anything, whether you’re the greatest team or the worst team,” Garrison said. “Throughout the whole rebuilding stage, we came together and just worked as a team.”
The fact that Virginia Tech also has a strong animal science program, Garrison’s planned course of study, made his decision essentially a no-brainer. It also helped that playing in Blacksburg has been a dream for the Orange native since he was young. Really young.
“It has been a dream probably since elementary school,” Garrison said.
If Garrison can find a way to work his way up the depth chart at Virginia Tech, he won’t be the first center Fork Union has produced for the Hokies. Ryan Shuman started two years at center for the Hokies back in 2011 and 2012 after a strong career at Fork Union. Now Shuman is the associate director for strength and conditioning for football. Throw in Russell Bodine’s rise to NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals as well as Skylar Allen’s time as a starter at Ohio from 2009 to 2012 and the Blue Devils have a pretty incredible recent track record for producing centers, giving Garrison a strong pedigree going into his time in Blacksburg.
Pace started his career at Fork Union with a broken arm as a sophomore, but in the ensuing years he’s transformed himself into a prospect worthy of a spot at Averett. Pace worked his way into a starting role after arriving at FUMA with a broken wrist as a sophomore.
“I wanted to play football so bad and I was just working my way up,” Pace said. “This year I started as right tackle and that was something I wanted to achieve. I’m very thankful, Fork Union is a great place, when you come here you’ve got to have a goal and you can do it if you work hard.”
Pace joins an Averett program that fit both his football goals and is a fit for him from a school perspective, though he wasn’t necessarily expecting it would be that kind of perfect fit.
“I always thought I would want to go to a big school but when I visited Averett, it was smaller like Fork Union and I think I’d fit in in a smaller school environment,” Pace said. “Their athletic facilities are really (top-notch).”
