Three student athletes who declined offers to play at other colleges are attending AACC this semester.

Two students, including one who is playing here, based their decisions on financial and personal reasons.

“I wouldn’t have anything to show for it after playing,” said first-year broadcast journalism student Brady Reilly. “I wasn’t going to make it to the NFL.”

Reilly played tight end and defensive end for the Chesapeake High School football team. He won a one-year scholarship to play full back or wide receiver, depending on if he made weight, at Florida Atlantic University.

Reilly said when he considered the offer, he decided he couldn’t afford the tuition, even with the scholarship.

Third-year transfer studies student Dustin Gosnell also walked away from an offer with a four-year college.

“I was originally supposed to go to [McDaniel College in Westminster],” the pitcher and infielder said. Gosnell left after the first day on campus because of a miscommunication about tuition.

Gosnell had received an academic scholarship from the Division III school. After leaving, Gosnell registered at AACC and played for Riverhawks Baseball for two years.

He made second team all-Maryland JUCO and first team all-conference before moving into a coaching position. Gosnell said he will transfer to University of Maryland Baltimore County in the fall to play baseball.

Finances aren’t the only reason why athletes stop playing college ball.

Second-year education student Stephen Darley quit sports because he wanted to balance his life better.

“That was probably one of the biggest things I underestimated going into college,” said Darley of juggling being a football player and full-time student.

Darley played guard and center at Wesley College in Dover, Delaware, from fall 2016 to spring 2017 and had recieved grants from the Division III school. He quit the team during the last month of school to focus on his finals, he said.

“I didn’t really miss football during that month,” said Darley, who moved back to Maryland to enroll in AACC.

Athletics Director Duane Herr said some athletes come here because they like being close to home and “it might not make sense for them” to leave their families, for personal reasons. Herr also said cost could be a factor when students come to AACC.