Eureka senior standout Brandon Vitale is today set to sign a letter of intent to play football for Humboldt State.

Vitale, a Big Five first-team all-league selection at linebacker, has been considering joining the Jacks since a recent recruiting visit to the campus and has reportedly turned down several Division-I schools to do so.

The decision was expected earlier in the week, but Vitale spent the past couple of days weighing his options as he considered joining an undisclosed Division-I school.

In the end, however, the opportunity to play close to home and join a Jacks program that is building for the future and one that has undergone some major changes this offseason proved to be too tempting for the senior linebacker.

The news will come as a boost for new HSU head coach Rob Smith, with Vitale the first big local signing for the new administration.

Vitale, who unofficially averaged almost 15 tackles in his senior season for the Loggers, will also give the Jacks some necessary depth at linebacker, a position that Smith admitted is pretty thin.

Vitale said HSU is the only Division-II program he considered.

His acquisition will be considered a big coup for the new administration, which has been looking at several local players, but has not yet committed to any.

Vitale (6-foot, 215 pounds) has a GPA of 3.80, making him even more in demand.

Vitale will follow in the footsteps of recent local standouts at HSU, including brothers Cody Killingsworth and Kyle Killingsworth, both out of Ferndale, as well as Arcata’s Jacob Kadle.

The new coaching staff has been pushing to add several freshmen this offseason as Smith looks to build the program with youth and allow them grow with the program, rather than bringing in mostly JC transfers.