The dream for many young football players is to continue playing the sport through college and into the NFL.  According to the NCAA, however, only 8.1% of high school football players make it to the next level.  Twenty-five Miners football alumni are defying the odds, suiting up for teams a cross the country this college football season.  The Division I Football Championship Subdivision season began in full last week, and while there were a few Division I Football Bowl Subdivision week zero games, their season and the Division III seasons get completely underway this week.  The following Park City alumni are on the noted college football teams this season:  Carson Tabaracci (University of Southern California) Stone Combs (Rice University) Max Alford (University of Michigan) Anthony Hernandez (University of Utah) Max Grizzell (Utah Tech University) Jack Stouffer (University of Mary) Blake Tabaracci (San José State University)  Ben Beatty (Washington State University) Will McCurdy (Davidson College) David Dellenbach (Weber State University) Carson Navarro (Claremont McKenna College) Tyler Montzingo (Carroll University) Brian Walsh (Muhlenberg College) Justin Michaelis (Rice University) Bash Bodily (United States Naval Academy) Luke Castelli (University of Pennsylvania) Liam Gallon (Saddleback College) Wyatt Knapp (Fordham University) Tanner Pidwell (Dartmouth College) Ben Souza (Fort Lewis College) Parker Jones (Johns Hopkins University) Eli Warner (Tufts University) Charlie Cusimano (Wesleyan University) Cole Morgan (Union College) Niko Morgan (Santa Monica College) Miners Head Coach Dennis Cunningham said he believes the school’s blend of strong athletics and academics helps football players make it to college football. He credits his predecessor Josh Montzingo, whose staff he worked on, for a lot of these players’ development, and he looks to pick up where Montzingo left off.  “We have a lot of kids who don’t necessarily fit the profile for going to a top tier power football school,” Cunningham said. “But we have a lot of kids who are very highly motivated academically and still love ball, and it enables them to set themselves apart from the other candidates who may be going to one of those hard to get into DI, DII and DIII schools.” Cunningham mentioned that there are players on his current team looking at continuing their playing careers in college. He has brought back alumni such as Castelli, Jones and others to speak to and motivate the team. Cunningham knows the value in his players hearing from successful alumni and seeing them on social media. “Certainly our kids look at that,” Cunningham said. “They follow and root for each other. … It helps them.” Cunningham tabbed Michaelis, Bodily and Alford as players who could see some good playing time for their programs this season.  Park City fell to 0-3 after Friday night’s loss to Morgan. To follow along with their season and their players’ statistics, see their MaxPreps page: maxpreps.com/ut/park-city/park-city-miners/football. The post 25 Miners football alumni embark on college football season appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less