Adam Breneman

Adam Breneman (born March 31, 1995) is a former American football tight end and a current political operative in Pennsylvania. Breneman played for the UMass Minutemen, where he transferred in 2016 after playing three years for the Penn State Nittany Lions. He played high school football at Cedar Cliff High School (Camp Hill, PA), and was a highly touted recruit.^[1]

As a true freshman in 2013, Breneman had a breakout season and was named a 247Sports.com True Freshman All-American.^[2] During the 2014 season Breneman redshirted due to an injury. In 2015, his redshirt sophomore season, Breneman battled injuries and appeared in two games, with one start.^[3] He officially left Penn State in December 2015 after completing his degree. He then worked as the campaign manager for Mike Regan.

In the summer of 2016, news broke that Breneman would be transferring to the University of Massachusetts for his final two years of eligibility. During the 2016 and 2017 seasons, Breneman led the country in receiving by a tight end and was named an All-American.

In March 2018, after he was widely regarded to be one of the top tight ends drafted in the 2018 NFL Draft, he announced his retirement from football due to the same knee injury that plagued him at Penn State. Breneman is currently a highly regarded political operative in Pennsylvania.

Personal life and family

Adam Breneman was born in Harrisburg, PA to Brian and Sherri Breneman. Breneman grew up in York County, Pennsylvania until his family moved to Cumberland County, Pennsylvania when he was in middle school.

Adam's father, Brian, was an All-American football player at Delaware Valley College, and works as a business executive in the insurance industry. Adam has a younger brother, Grant, and a younger sister, Julia. Grant was the quarterback for Cedar Cliff High School from 2014 to 2016, and has since graduated. Grant is now the starting quarterback at Colgate University and was the 2017 Patriot League Rookie of the Year.^[4]

High school

Breneman attended Cedar Cliff High School in Camp Hill, PA. He previously went to Allen Middle School, both in the West Shore School District. At Cedar Cliff, he was ranked the best tight end recruit in the country by ESPN, and was rated a five-star recruit by Scout.com.^[5] He had scholarship offers from over 30 schools, including Penn State University, University of Alabama, Stanford University, Florida State University, Auburn University, University of Notre Dame, and Ohio State University.^[6]

Breneman is the all-time leader in receiving by a tight end in Pennsylvania high school football history. He is also the all-time leading receiver in Cedar Cliff High School history, holding the school records for career yards, receptions, and receiving touchdowns, as well as every single-season receiving record. In his three seasons of varsity football at Cedar Cliff, he totaled 144 receptions, 2,244 yards, and 23 touchdowns.

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes

Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	40‡	Commit date
Adam Breneman Tight End	Mechanicsburg, PA	Cedar Cliff High School	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	230 lb (100 kg)	4.65	Mar 9, 2012
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
Overall recruiting rankings: Scout: 2 (TE)   Rivals: 3 (TE)  247Sports: 2 (TE)  ESPN: 1 (TE)
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2013 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved 2013-01-15.

^[7]

College football career

Retirement from football

On March 13, 2018, Breneman released a letter on the blog site Medium officially announcing his retirement from football due to a knee injury. In the letter, Breneman wrote:

"After additional medical evaluations and creative treatments, my doctors and I have come to the realization that there is no solution that will allow me to continue to play football. It hurts me to share that at just 22 years old, I am officially retiring from the game of football. Football has given me so much in my life and I am very proud of all my accomplishments both on and off the field."

Philanthropy

During his senior year of high school, Breneman started Catch The Cure, a fundraiser to raise awareness and money to fight Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease.^[11] Catch The Cure raised over $200,000 for A.L.S. research, with all funds benefiting New York based research organization Project ALS^[12]

Breneman served as the Vice President and a member of the board for the Penn State football chapter of Uplifting Athletes during his career at Penn State.^[13]

In 2017, Breneman was named a finalist for the prestigious Jason Witten Man of the Year Award. This award is "presented annually to the Division I college football player who has demonstrated a record of leadership by exhibiting exceptional courage, integrity and sportsmanship both on and off the field."^[14]

Politics

Breneman is affiliated with the Republican Party.

After graduating from Penn State's Smeal College of Business in December, 2015, with a degree in business management and political science, Breneman was hired by Mike Regan to serve as his campaign manager for his 2016 Pennsylvania Senate run. In April 2016, Regan won the Republican nomination for Pennsylvania Senate, District 31 with over 52% of the vote in a four-person primary election. After the victory, Regan offered Breneman the job of his chief of staff at just 21 years old. Breneman briefly accepted, but then instead opted to return to football at the University of Massachusetts and pursue his MBA.^[15]

Immediately following his retirement in 2018, Breneman took a job as a consultant with Harrisburg-based political consulting firm Red Maverick Media.^[16]

In late March, 2018, it was reported that Breneman had begun a new role as the campaign manager for John Joyce, who is running for US Congress in Pennsylvania's 13th congressional district.^[17]

References

External links

• Penn State bio
• Umass bio
• twitter