Early Years and College
Van Pelt attended San Marcos High School in Santa Barbara, California, where he played quarterback and safety. There he earned accolades with spots on PrepStar's All-Western and SuperPrep's All-Far West Region Teams and being named a first-team all-state selection as an athlete. In 1998, during his senior season, he completed 89-of-155 passes (.574) for 1,265 yards and 13 touchdowns and rushed for 1,294 yards and 24 TDs; on defense he had 41 tackles and three interceptions.
Van Pelt originally joined the college program where his father was an All-American, Michigan State. The head coach at the time was Nick Saban, who departed after Van Pelt's first season to coach LSU. However, after he was pressured to convert from quarterback to defensive back, he opted to transfer to Colorado State where he was given the opportunity to play quarterback. At Colorado State he managed to throw for nearly 3,000 yards and over 60% completion rate his senior year, and came within 100 yards in passing and rushing of becoming the first collegiate quarterback to pass for 3,000 yards and rush for 1,000 yards in the same season. In 2005 Vince Young passed for 3,036 yards and rushed for 1,050.
Read more about this topic: Bradlee Van Pelt
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