Sam Bergen hasn’t had it easy over the past 12 months but following Saturday’s blow out win vs TSU he finally got what was coming to him, an offer from the school he’s wanted to go to for a long time. With his offer in hand, the linebacker out of East Stroudsburg South HS (East Stroudsburg, PA) promptly pledged his non binding oral commitment to the Scarlet Knights making him the tenth projected member of the 2010 class.

Heading into his junior year the 6’0” 225 lb Bergen received plenty of interest from the likes of Uconn, Boston College, Pittsburgh, Illinois, Rutgers, Notre Dame, Michigan and Stanford (where his brother is a sophomore LB). However, just two games into the season Sam suffered a left ACL tear, an injury that spells recruiting death for so many high school athletes. As was expected, most schools gave up on him completely but some took a wait and see approach perhaps seeing something special in Bergen who as a sophomore recorded 89 tackles and 5 sacks while earning all area honors.

Following surgery, Bergen endured ten months of rehab, strength and conditioning but never once gave up hope that he would one day return to his prior form on the gridiron. During the summer months, Bergen followed rehab by running the camp gauntlet and attended every junior day he could. More then 12 months after his injury, the redemption bell for Sam Bergen finally rang true on Saturday with his scholarship payoff from the Scarlet Knights. You always like to see guy like Sam who overcome such improbable odds and work themselves back to the top of their game. Just like Brian Sheridan, Ryan Neill and Eric Foster before him, Sam Bergen is exactly the kind of player Schiano needs to represent the present and future of the Scarlet Knights.