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Taking a shine to the diamond

In less than a week Davis Hendrickson has gone from the gridiron to the diamond. Surrounded by his family and school administrators, the Macomb High senior signed his letter of intent to play baseball with the University of Illinois just four days after ending his high school football career. Hendrickson - a center fielder that batted .468 with five home runs and 39 RBI for Macomb last spring - admitted the bittersweet nature of the past few days. “It was rough to go out how we did in the last football game of my life,” said Hendrickson, who rushed for 176 yards and a touchdown in Macomb’s 66-14 loss to Illini West in the second round of the playoffs. “But now I’m feeling great just to know I have my future set out for me here in the next couple years and what I can make of it if I give it my all, which I will.” To the casual observer, the national past time might seem to be an odd choice for Hendrickson, whose pedigree rests firmly in football. His older brother, Myers, plays wide receiver for the Western Illinois University Leathernecks where Mark - the patriarch of the Hendrickson clan - has been the offensive coordinator for 10 seasons. Davis, however, maintains the baseball field is where he belongs, and he has received nothing but support from his family of pigskin proclivity. “They know I love football, but as I grew up I’ve always had a little more passion for baseball,” Davis said. “I just stuck with it and it’s what I pursued when I got into high school, and it’s worked out pretty good.” Despite interest from other schools - Notre Dame and Purdue - Davis said Illinois seemed like a natural fit due to commonly held values and beliefs from head coach Dan Hartleb and his staff. “One of the main things is that they’re very family-oriented people,” Davis said. “Coming from such a close family, it just kind of hit home with me. I feel like they really care about their players, and they want them to succeed on the baseball field but also as individuals when they graduate.”

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