Next season, college football will enter a new era as the sport finally moves to a playoff format to select a national championship at the highest level. But in one of the sport's lower levels, history is in the making.
Next season, Campbellsville University in Kentucky will take on Shelby Osborne, who will be college football's first female cornerback. Most other women in the sport have played place kicker.
The first female football player in Campbellsville history, Osborne was captain of her junior varsity team in high school and captained for one game in her senior season last year.
The 5-foot-6, 140-pound athlete played numerous sports at Jeffersonville High in Indiana, including track, soccer, cross-country and tennis. Her dream, however, was to play football, and she worked nearly nonstop to make it onto the gridiron.
When Osborne told high school coach Lonnie Oldham of her goal, he explained how hard it would be to play college football. Osborne contacted schools around the country, including Florida and North Carolina, but most that responded stopped after learning that Shelby was a woman.
Osborne showed up to an open tryout at Campbellsville, where she convinced the coach to give her a shot. She signed with Campbellsville June 6.
One of the biggest challenges Osborne faces is the physical aspect of college football. However, several cornerbacks in the sport's history, including Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, were not tackling machines. Osborne will be fine if she has the speed to keep up with defenders and can force incompletions on pass attempts.
Football teams at the NAIA level have no limits on roster size and do not offer scholarships like schools at the FBS level. Osborne will not have a full-ride scholarship, but she will have a chance to break gender stereotypes and leave a path for other young women to follow.
On Sept. 27, Belhaven University will host Osborne and Campbellsville. The game is a conference game for both schools in the Mid-South Conference and will be played at 1:30 p.m. at H.T. Newell Field in Jackson.
Last season, Campbellsville defeated Belhaven 54-22 in Kentucky.
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