Shelby Osborne Will Become the First Female Defensive Back in College Football After Signing With NAIA Campbellsville

After attempting to woo NAIA Campbellsville, Shelby Osborne got her wish to play collegiate level football next season.

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Complex Original

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Throughout her time in high school, Shelby Osborne played soccer at Jeffersonville as a freshman, tennis during her sophomore year and competed in cross country and track as a junior, but she always wanted to play football. Following a 2013 campaign where the 5'6", 140-pound Osborne played multiple positions, Shelby actively pursued a collegiate football career to no avail. Then, Osborne attended an open recruiting visit at NAIA Campbellsville in Kentucky and met head coach Perry Thomas

Thomas, who knew Osborne's Jeffersonville coach Lonnie Oldham from a high school all-star game that both guys participated in back "in the early 2000s," decided that Oldham's association was enough to coerce Perry into taking a chance on Shelby. Admittedly, Osborne isn't much of a tackler, given her frame, however, what she lacks in strength, she makes up for in skill. "I'm not big enough to take the person to the ground, so I shut down my side," she said. Regardless of gender, that approach sounds like music to any football head coach's ears.  

[via Indy Star]

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