ERIE — Jeremy Hanford's football life will be radically different this fall.

He has no problem with it. In fact, he couldn't wait for the season to get here.

“I've been looking forward to this for months, pretty much from the day I found out I'll be playing football again,” Hanford said.

The Butler graduate figured his playing career may have ended last fall, when he led the Golden Tornado in tackles for the second consecutive season. Hanford had 47 solo stops from his linebacker position.

He led Butler with 35 solo tackles and 51 total stops his junior year.

Sporting a 4.3 grade point average in high school, Hanford plans to major in sports medicine and wasn't pursuing a collegiate football career.

“I didn't think I'd be playing anymore,” he said. “I mean, I love football, but my No. 1 goal right now is to get an education.

“I went up to Mercyhurst and fell in love with the campus. Everything is beautiful up there and the academics are a good fit. When I found out I had the abilities and opportunity to play football, too? That was a bonus.”

While Butler went 3-15 over Hanford's final two seasons, Mercyhurst won its final seven games last year, has produced three straight winning seasons and won the PSAC championship in 2010.

Hanford was a standout linebacker with the Golden Tornado. He will start out at fullback for the Lakers, a position he saw limited duty at in high school.

Finally, Hanford will be one of many freshmen trying to make the grade at Mercyhurst after being a standout linebacker for Butler.

“More than likely, he'll be a redshirt, strictly because of the numbers game,” Mercyhurst coach Marty Schaetzle said of Hanford. “But, usually, 10 true freshmen find their way on to the field for us every season.

“It comes down to how hard they work, how well-prepared they are and what our needs are for that respective position because of injury.”

Butler coach Rob Densmore described Hanford as “someone who could be a good player for them for a number of years.”

Hanford said the coaches haven't talked to him about redshirting yet.

“I'll have no problem with it either way,” he said. “For me, this year will be all about learning, lifting, getting used to college life and getting out on my own for the first time.

“I like the idea of playing fullback. One of my strongest points as a player is blocking from the fullback position.”

Hanford is 6-foot-0 and weighs 200 pounds. He can bench-press 310 pounds. His goals are to get up to 225 pounds and bench-press 375.

“Jeremy has good speed right now, but I'm sure they'll want to get him bigger and stronger physically. And he'll work at that while maintaining that speed,” Densmore said.

Schaetzle won't rule out Hanford eventually moving to linebacker.

“With every recruit, we start him off on the side of the ball he played the least in high school,” Schaetzle said. “That way, we can make sure he experiences football from both sides and maybe we uncover a hidden talent or two.”

While Hanford lists his primary goals as “doing well in school, getting an education and setting myself up for better opportunities in the future,” he is excited about extending his football career as well.

“The entire process, moving up to a different level with a new team, meeting a bunch of new guys ... I've been looking forward to this for the past six months,” he said.