BRANDON, S.D. (KELO) — Brandon Valley offensive lineman, Navarro Schunke is receiving college football offers to play at some big name schools.

Tennessee and Auburn are just a couple who have reached out to Schunke, despite the fact that it’s been nearly two years since he last played high school football.

Navarro Schunke started as an offensive lineman for Brandon Valley as a freshman. By the time he was a sophomore, he solidified himself as one of the top linemen in the state.

But during his sophomore state title run in wrestling, Schunke became injured.

“I thought it was my hamstring for the longest time, because that’s where the pain was and that’s what one of the doctors told me,” Brandon Valley offensive linemen Navarro Schunke said. “About a month and a half to two months later, I got an MRI done and it showed that I had a slipped disk in my L5-S1 vertebrae.”

Schunke did physical therapy for months, with little progress. That was followed by the tough decision to perform surgery, forcing him to miss his junior year of football.

A few months later, Schunke would return to the wrestling mat.

“For the first little bit of it, I didn’t do much. I was tired after two minutes of stance and motion. It was terrible,” Schunke said. “I have a coach, Tom Meester, he wrestled me every day just about and he pushed me. I’d be dead tired after every practice, but it got me back faster than with anybody else.”

Several colleges showed interest in Schunke for both football and wrestling, forcing the now Senior into a tough decision.

“I was debating on one of the two. It took me a long time to figure it out. It was probably the hardest decision I’ve ever had to do,” Schunke said.

After some time to think, Schunke chose to play football collegiately. That decision proved to be wise as several big time offers came in, for the Lynx standout.

“He stays on his blocks, knows his job, gets the energy going for the team and he knows how to compete at the highest levels,” head coach Matt Christensen said. “Just the experience of starting since he was a freshman really helps.”

“No matter where I go, I feel like I’m going to have a great chance of playing at the next level, because I know the coaches are going to push me to where I need to be,” Schunke said. “I’m going to push myself to where I need to be at that level as well.”

Schunke and the Lynx will open the season on Saturday, August 26. They’ll meet O’Gorman in the Dakota Bowl at 7 p.m.