Chaffee football player Trevor Morehead officially an Austin Peay Governor

Although Chaffee's Trevor Morehead had already made plans to play college football prior to the start of his final varsity season, everything could've changed when the 6-foot-2, 291-pound offensive and defensive lineman tore his ACL during a Week 4 game against host Scott City.

But Austin Peay stayed true to its offer.

"When the injury happened, I started crying. I knew it was something bad because I've never been seriously hurt before, and I've been playing since the second grade," said Morehead, who signed a National Letter of Intent with APSU on Wednesday. "The first thing I thought was that I was done, and the second thing I thought was, 'Well, it looks like there's no more college ball for me.' When I told [Austin Peay] and they me that they were still behind me, that just completely turned my attitude around and really just let me focus on healing up."

After helping lead the Red Devils to one of the best seasons in school history in which he posted 79 tackles and a team-high eight sacks as a junior, Morehead began drawing Division I interest from Southern Illinois and Southeast Missouri State, but Austin Peay was the only school that extended an offer.

"Obviously I wanted to continue playing football, especially at the Division I level, and that just made me feel really good about myself," Morehead said about the offer. "The other schools wanted to wait until after my senior season before they were going to offer me or not. Austin Peay went ahead and did it up front, and I really liked that. I had told myself that I wanted to commit before my senior year started."

Although he's yet to finish his last year of high school, Morehead said he and his recruiting class have been keeping in touch through a group message on Kik Messenger.

"When we went on our official visit, we all pretty much knew each other," Morehead said. "I have a really good bond with them, and I already almost feel like family with a lot of them. We've only met each other in person one time, but we've been communicating. So we all pretty much know each other really well."

Morehead said the Governors plan to use him as an interior defensive tackle in their four-man front. APSU allowed 43.58 points per game and gave up 495.2 total yards per game last season.

Recovering from an ACL tear is Morehead's first priority, but he understands he'll be starting from scratch when he arrives in Clarksville, Tennessee.

"I'll be a freshman, and it's going to be like starting over as a freshman in high school. ... I'm just going to go in realizing that I'm not going to be a superman out there, but I just want to excel," Morehead said. "I want to pick up where I left off dominating.

"I'm really excited. I'm nervous because I'm going to be leaving home, and I'll be leaving my family and close friends. But I'm very excited that it'll be a new opportunity for me to make new close friends and friends that'll become family."