Family of QBs

When the Mike Shelton family sits down for dinner, one topic of conversation is usually football.

With two sons playing quarterback — the position their father also played in high school and college — conversation often turns to some aspect of playing the position or something about the game.

"I guess you could call us a quarterback family," said Kevin Shelton, 18, the youngest of the quarterbacking trio.

He's soon headed for his freshman year at the University of Chicago, an NCAA Division III school where he will play football, while older brother Patrick is approaching his final season as a college quarterback.

Patrick, 21, will start for the third season at the University of Sewanee (Tenn.), an NCAA Division III school also called the University of the South.

Patrick and Kevin were both starting quarterbacks at Hickory High, and their dad starred at Dobyns-Bennett High in Kingsport, Tenn., before playing quarterback at Furman in the early 1970s.

"Being a quarterback family has always been very interesting and a lot of fun," Patrick said. "Kevin and I love to compete with each other and criticize one another, but it's all in good fun.

"I always grew up wanting to be like my dad and playing multiple sports before ending up choosing football.

"My entire family has always been all about football, and it has been great watching Kevin grow up and ultimately deciding football was what he wanted to do early in high school.

"I couldn't be happier about his decision to play in college."

As a dad who has football in his blood, Mike Shelton said he paid particular attention to not pushing his sons toward the sport. But he's happy they found the same love for football that he did.

The Shelton boys did not turn out athletic just because of their dad, who is now president and CEO of Valdese Weavers, LLC.

Debra, their mom, was also a prep and college athlete who played tennis at Furman and won a South Carolina state championship there.

And Jennifer, their older sister, is into sports, too, working as a graduate assistant in the sports information department at Liberty University.

All that sports made those nights around the dinner table fun — so much so that Debra says she looks forward to them.

"Actually, I probably love it as much as the boys and Mike do," Debra said. "My brother played college football at Wofford and I would have probably played if I could have.

"I love watching it as much as they do. We're just a very competitive family and football is just the common bond, I guess."

From 2004 through last season, the Sheltons shared a strong bond with Hickory High football by providing the Red Tornadoes their starting quarterbacks.

Patrick became the Red Tornadoes' starter as a junior in 2004 and threw for 794 yards and five TDs on an 8-4 team. His senior year, Hickory went 9-3 and shared the Catawba Valley Athletic 2A-3A Conference title as he threw for 1,303 yards and 12 TDs.

Kevin got into a state playoff game as a sophomore, throwing for 91 yards and a TD against Northwest Cabarrus, and became the Hickory starter as a junior.

As a junior, Kevin threw for 1,337 yards and 13 TDs on a 13-1 team. Last season, when HHS went 6-6, Kevin completed 83 of 164 passes for 1,191 yards and 13 TDs.

"Both of them were very hard workers and very smart football players," said Hickory head coach John Worley. "And they both had great work ethics. They were students of the game…

"They are the type of kids that will be able to run their own companies some day because they understand the value of teamwork and what it takes for a team to be successful."

Patrick, who has thrown for 11 TDs and run for another three at Sewanee, says he has found that college football is challenging.

"The college game is much faster," he said. "Everybody breaks a lot faster and everybody that you play with was one of the best players on their high school team.

"College is a lot more time consuming than high school because you have camp with two or three meetings a day plus practices and film sessions.

"And then during the week it doesn't get any easier when you have classes and homework on top of that.

"It really is a lot tougher, but it's a lot more rewarding also."

After playing quarterback as a junior and senior at Furman, their dad found his experience so rewarding he hung around a while longer.

Mike, 57, played for head coach Art Baker, who hired a new offensive coordinator for Mike's senior year, a guy by the name of Dick Sheridan.

Sheridan went on to become Furman's head coach from 1978 through 1985 and was named the NCAA Division I-AA coach of the year in 1985. He later coached N.C. State to six bowl games in his seven years in Raleigh.

Mike spent three seasons as a graduate assistant for Sheridan, coaching quarterbacks.

His college quarterbacking days in front of him, Kevin is excited about heading to Chicago. The Maroon's season opens Sept. 12 at Kenyon (Ohio) College.

"Signing with Chicago has been pretty exciting and nerve-racking at the same time," Kevin said. "It's great to be able to play football in college at such a great academic institution.

"It's nerve-racking that I am going so far away but it's something I'll have to get over.

"Football is a big part of my life and I'm very happy that I am going to continue to play in college."

Kevin could have chosen a school much closer, but was impressed when he visited the Chicago campus.

"Chicago stood out to me from the time they started recruiting me," Kevin said. "It's a world-renowned academic institution and the academic experience you can get there is one of a kind.

"I had some other options, but this one just felt right."