When national signing day approached on Feb. 1, Minneota senior Adam Josephson had a tough decision to make for his potential collegiate athletics career: football or wrestling.
Josephson has shown he's more than capable in both after gaining an All-State honorable mention nod during football season, as well as being the No. 1-ranked wrestler at 195 pounds in Class A this winter.
Ultimately, the Vikings standout opted not to sign on Feb. 1.
"I had it narrowed down to what I wanted to do, but I was in the middle of wrestling season," Josephson said. "It took a little longer to make a decision because I was focusing on wrestling first and school next."
After many sleepless nights mulling his options, Josephson finally made his decision last week, signing a national letter of intent to play football at St. Cloud State.
Josephson said after getting a chance to meet up with Huskies head coach Scott Underwood and defensive coordinator Jim Louis, he was enamored with the coaches' passion for football.
"I got excited to play when I was up there," said Josephson, who is projected to play linebacker for the Huskies. "They brought a lot of passion to everything they did."
After piling up 99 tackles for Minneota this fall, and winning the Little Sioux Conference's Defensive Back of the Year award, Josephson saw what St. Cloud State was running and saw a similar system to what the Vikings ran in his high school career.
"They broke down some film with me, showed me what I'd be doing up there, it looked really fun," Josephson said. "Their defense is really similar to ours, their blitzes are very similar to ours and the run responsibilities are similar to ours. It seems like a great fit."
But Josephson still has another decision to mull over: will he try wrestling in college? Both Underwood and head wrestling coach Steve Costanzo gave Josephson their blessing to do both sports. But looking to go into the pre-veterinary program at St. Cloud State, Josephson is debating on if he has time for two sports and academics.
"I like to say that wrestling is the greatest sport and football's the greatest game," Josephson said, "and it's generally more fun to play football than it is to wrestle because the workouts are more monotonous.
"But both sports are fun, but it'll be a tough decision."
Along with St. Cloud State, Josephson said he was in contact with Southwest Minnesota State, South Dakota State, North Dakota State and Concordia-Moorhead. Ultimately, he felt good about going to St. Cloud State, a school that hosts a top-20 football team and the No. 1 wrestling team in Division II.
"Success is very appealing," Josephson said. "We've had a lot of success in Minneota over the last couple years, and that's one thing that drew me to St. Cloud a lot, too, is the succes they're having right now, and with how fun it could be."