The Cardinals' Emrie Neal had his college signing on Wednesday, February 1 to play football at Southern Baptist University in Bolivar. He has been a wide receiver at Clinton High School and will be continuing his football career with SBU.
His grandparents, parents, peers, teachers, and admin are more than proud of him.
Southwest Baptist's football program dates back to 1983 when the program went 0–5. Since their inaugural season the Bearcats have played in five conferences and have been an NCAA Division II member since 1986.
In 2016, Coach Robert Clardy earned GLVC Coach of the Year honors after leading the Bearcats to their first-ever conference title and NCAA National Playoff appearance after finishing the season 10-2 (7-1 GLVC). The 2016 Bearcats were ranked as high as 17th in the NCAA Division II AFCA poll and were ranked 22nd in the final poll. SBU broke 13 team records and 15 individual records in the 2016 season, including most wins and most conference wins in a single season, while also recording a record 19 All-GLVC and 10 All-Region honorees. The Bearcats had three All-Americans and finished with the 10th best total offense in the NCAA Division II. The Southwest Baptist University Bearcats football program represents Southwest Baptist University in college football and competes in the Division II level of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA). In 2014, Southwest Baptist became a football-only member of the Great Lakes Valley Conference and remains a football-only member through the 2018–19 school year, after which it will become a full GLVC member. Prior to this SBU was in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association from 1988 to 2007 and 2012 to 2013, the rest of the athletic programs are in the MIAA. SBU's home games are played at Plaster Stadium in Bolivar, Missouri.
