Surrounded by many of his teammates from the Salisbury High School football team, Kyle Killiri officially announced his choice to attend Slippery Rock University where he will continue his football career.

Killiri spent the past four seasons playing football at Salisbury and was a varsity letter recipient in three of those four seasons. He also was a part of the track and field team and joined the wrestling team for his senior season.

Killiri accepted the scholarship to attend Slippery Rock after considering other schools, including Bucknell University where his brother, Michael, will be a junior next season.

“I considered Bucknell, but Slippery Rock was interested in me and when I visited there I just fell in love with the place and from then on, it was my choice to go there,” said Killiri, who credits his older brother with helping to get him involved in sports. “I started going to games because he was playing and it just carried on from there.”

Falcon football head coach Andy Cerco was impressed with Killiri from the moment he showed up to play football. What impressed Cerco wasn’t just his abilities, but the work ethic and eagerness to show what he could do on a football field.

“Let’s talk first about how Kyle operates,” Cerco said. “Kyle was all about developing as a complete student-athlete in his time here at Salisbury. Right from the beginning, there was no doubt that he was on board with everything that we’re about, our core values, our work ethic.

“He shows up every single day, works hard and is an example for the other players by doing things with class and humility.”

Looking for an added way of training during the offseason, Killiri started participating in track and field. He’s competed in the 100-meter dash, pole vaulting and discus for three seasons at Salisbury. As a senior, Killiri was talked into trying wrestling by a teammate, Ben Krauss.

“I did track and field more just as training and to stay active and competitive throughout the offseason,” said Killiri. “My buddy [Krauss] is really into wrestling and he got me into it. Once I tried it a little bit, it was pretty good and I haven’t regretted it since. It’s been amazing.”

While Killiri hasn’t completely settled on an exact major to pursue at Slippery Rock, he’s considering something in the business and financial field. As with football, Killiri noted that it was nice to have a big brother go through the recruiting process ahead of him to help prepare him for what was going to be coming.

With one final track and field season to go in the spring, Killiri realizes that his time at Salisbury really is coming to an end in the near future. Looking back, he knows there will be a lot of memories that will run through his mind.

“It’s mainly going to be about the people and the atmosphere here,” said Killiri. “We had a lot of fun in practices and games and I made some good friends here that I’ll remember and stay in touch with. It’s exciting to take the next step, but there has been a lot of fun times here, that’s for sure.”