Trey Freeman never imagined he’d get such a kick out of football (updated)

Trey Freeman is a young man of many talents. He can give your car a tune-up, head a soccer ball into the net, ace a calculus exam, run the lead leg on a district-qualifying 4×100 meter relay team. . . you name it he can probably do it, or quickly learn how.

Turns out he can catch a football pretty well, too. He didn’t add that skill to his resume until later in life, after his friends on the Twin Valley football team bugged him to come out, and his mom finally relented.

“It took off from there,” said Freeman.

He didn’t put on shoulder pads for the first time until eighth grade and didn’t run his first pass pattern until the summer before his freshman season. By the end of his senior year he had more receiving yards than any player in Berks history.

“He’s like a Renaissance man,” says Twin Valley football coach Kris Olson. “Whatever he tries to do, he’s just pretty good at. He’s a unique kid that way.”

Freeman is a elite soccer player. He continues to play with the Penn Fusion Soccer Academy in West Chester, on the club’s top team, which competes in the nationally recognized Elite Club National League.

He’s done that throughout his high school years, pausing only during football season.

He just returned from a soccer showcase in Orlando with the Fusion. Division II and III college coaches liked what they saw and wanted to recruit him.

“Guys who play with him tell me he’s one of the best soccer players they’ve ever seen,” Olson said. “Some people say he’s even a better soccer player than football player.”

College soccer coaches were surprised to learn that Freeman has committed to play football at California University of Pennsylvania.

That came as a bit of a surprise to Freeman, too. He never saw that coming. He always envisioned himself on the pitch, not making the catch.

“Football was supposed to be there as a fun sport, just to get away from soccer for a little bit,” Freeman said of his initial intentions. “It was just a sport to play and have some fun with friends. I wasn’t really thinking past high school.”

That outlook began to change in his first varsity game, the season opener his freshman year in 2018 against Wyomissing. Late in the first half Zach Gardner threw a deep ball that ended up as a jump ball. Freeman went up between two defenders. One of them tipped it. He dove to the ground and came up with it a few yards shy of the end zone.

Berks career receiving leaders
Trey Freeman	Twin Valley	2,250	2018-21
Nolan McCready	Wyomissing	2,110	1999-01
Aanjay Feliciano	Conrad Weiser	2,055	2019-21
Alex Javier	Exeter	1,950	2017-19
Zach Keeley	Daniel Boone	1,942	2007-08
Ian Firestone	Wilson	1,907	1998-01
Tony Hardy	Reading High	1,893	1989-91
Nate Ottaviani	Schuylkill Valley	1,888	1998-01
Ernie Wolfe	Schuylkill Valley	1,877	1997-99
Josh Smith	Wilson	1,842	2004-06

“I can’t believe I caught it,” he recalls saying to himself. “That was wild. That was a really important moment for me.”

He was hooked.

After that he did everything he could to learn the sport and train his body for it.

The following summer he went to camps at Penn State, Rutgers and Temple to learn more about his new position.

He averaged 18.3 yards on his 19 catches as a sophomore and earned all-league second-team honors as a wide receiver in Section 1 of the Berks Football League.

He had an even better junior season, averaging 24.1 yards per catch, with seven TD receptions, and was a first-team all-league pick as a wide receiver in in Section 2. He also earned second-team honors as a kick returner and defensive back.

The chances of that happening as a senior weren’t promising. The Raiders turned the quarterback position over to a freshman, Evan Myers, and went into the season with the idea of being a run-first team and keeping throws downfield to a minimum.

Freeman figured his receiving numbers would be down.

“I told Evan: ‘You’ve gotta take this seriously,’ ” Freeman said. “This is my last year and I really want to make it a good year. I took him out (in the summer) and we got some throwing done.”

Myers turned out to be a quick learner. Freeman scored on an 80-yard TD pass in the opening quarter of the season opener and things only got better from there. Freeman had five catches for 88 yards the following week.

At midseason he caught five balls for 111 yards and a TD in an upset of Conrad Weiser. He finished the regular season with three straight 100-yard receiving games — a rarity at this level — and all kinds of Raiders receiving records.

“I got more confidence (in Myers) as the season went on,” said Freeman. “He made sure he did his job, throwing it on time and getting it there to me. It just progressed. Halfway through the season we realized we could throw the ball a little bit.”

Freeman ended the season with 57 receptions for 1,104 yards and eight touchdown catches, all program records.

He finished his career with 2,250 receiving yards, 140 more than the longstanding record of 2,110 set by Wyomissing’s Nolan McCready, who went on to play at Penn State.

“I didn’t see it coming, at all,” Freeman said. “I didn’t think I was going to get any records, because I didn’t think I was going to get the ball that much. I was kind of surprised. It definitely was like a miracle season.”

Freeman is 5-7, 160 pounds. He doesn’t strike you as a football player . . . until you see him out there juking past defenders and then out-running them to the end zone. He never let his size, or lack of it, get in the way.

“You can’t hit me if you can’t catch me,” he said, “that’s my mentality.”

Freeman will be the smallest receiver on Cal’s roster. Most of the guys he’ll be competing with are 6-2 or 6-3, 200 pounds or more. The Vulcans plan to use him as a slot receiver and as a kick returner. Olson doesn’t see size as a detriment for Freeman.

“Trey has his own special talents that I think they’re going to be able to take advantage of,” Olson said, “his shiftiness and elusiveness. He can find those open creases. He just kind of pops out of nowhere.

“His soccer background helped him thrive. The elusiveness, the quick feet, being able to find open space, that was huge for him.”