Choosing the right college is potentially one of the hardest decisions an athlete can make.

Not only does the sport he/she plays have to fit in to the decision, but the school and community as well.

For Devin Cramer, choosing UW-Whitewater came easy, even though he passed up an offer from a Division-I school.

Cramer, who started at UW-Whitewater this spring, attended the IMG Madden Football Academy for one semester after graduating last spring from Sarasota High School in Florida.

The academy, which is held in Florida, is a training and academic facility that attracts athletes of any age  to ready them for the next level.

Cramer said he decided to attend the academy for a semester because he felt like he had a good chance to walk on somewhere.

“I went up there and I didn’t like the school (University of North Dakota),” Cramer said. “I liked the football portion, but I just didn’t like the school. I came to Whitewater and I liked it because of the college town atmosphere.”

Coming out of high school, Cramer was a 240-pound offensive lineman. Leaving the academy, he ended up a 215-pound fullback.

“We had two practices a day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon,” Cramer said. “We also had a workout in between and I kept losing weight. One of the coaches told me to try playing fullback. I tried it out.”

Throughout his time at the academy, Cramer had the chance to work with Chris Weinke, a former Heisman winner and NFL quarterback. Weinke is the director of the football academy.

Weinke, who trained Cam Newton and many other NFL quarterbacks, was a big part of Cramer’s transformation to a fullback.

“I felt like his best opportunity would be to start by training to be a fullback,” Weinke said. “So that’s really the path we took along with our performance institute and him lifting and running for four days a week. Not only transforming his body, but really his thinking in preparation to play fullback in college.”

Cramer said his training with the game’s best really helped him prepare for the next level.

“It’s a great opportunity; you get to hear from the best of the best,” Cramer said. “We really worked on the little things and the professional guys have been through it, they really take you through every step. It’s a lot more mental than it is physical.”

Weinke said Cramer is a perfect fit for UW-Whitewater football because he is a committed man that will work hard at the next level.

“He was committed since day one and you could see in a short amount of time that this was a perfect fit for him to be a fullback,” Weinke said. “I’m a firm believer that young men have to make their own decisions and that is my message to the parents,” Weinke said. “The athlete is the one that has to spend four years at an institution; so we strictly just guided him until something presented an opportunity.”

Cramer is scheduled to start his football career at UW-Whitewater come fall.