SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. – Shelbyville Central star forward Emmanuel Leyva signed with Lincoln Memorial University last Monday, joined by his parents along with friends, other family, teammates, and coaches.

“I want to thank my parents, Uncle Ivan and Uncle David, my grandparents, Coach Fritz, my cousin Victor, one of my friends, Daniel Torres aka Pee Wee, and I want to thank God for letting me have this opportunity and being able to be here to continue my journey,” said Leyva.

Lincoln Memorial, a DII university located right on the Tennessee-Kentucky border about 90 minutes north of Knoxville in Harrogate, TN, currently competes in the South Atlantic Conference. The Railsplitters qualified for the NCAA Tournament in 2023 by going 11-5-3 before finishing last season with a 9-4-3 record overall, seeing its season come to an early ending in the Quarterfinals of the SAC Tournament against Mars Hill.

Leyva says the recruiting process with LMU came about as recently as mid-May, and two months later, he has found his next destination to progress his career.

“I got a text message in May – like right before our graduation – from an assistant at Lincoln Memorial, and he just said that he had seen my highlight tape and was interested so we started talking,” he explained. 

“I had some other schools, but I wasn’t really fully interested in any of them. As soon as LMU came in, I was very interested. It’s a very calm place with a lot of nature and I really like the campus.”

Chris Fritz has coached Emmanuel for not just all four years of high school, but in rec league and travel ball when Leyva was a young player, and spoke on how impactful Leyva has been in his time in Shelbyville.

“This is all pretty special considering I coached him in rec league and travel and watched him grow; I actually have a ball in my office with Emannuel’s name on it that he gave to me when he was a little kid from the first time I coached him in rec,” Fritz said. “It’s just neat to watch a kid like that who has so many ties to the program and the community and that you’ve known for so long…it’s really fulfilling.”

“His dedication of being at practice all the time, not missing summer practice, not being able to carry the burden of the team at his position,” he continued. “I’m not sure what position he’ll play in college – I’m sure he’ll wind up playing a lot of positions – but his particular position he wears a lot of the weight of the team. He’s not afraid to have that, and he has the humility to do the dirty work, to share the ball, to be a good teammate, and he has the skillset to go along with that, but his ego isn’t driven by individual performance. He individually crafts his game, but it’s for the sole purpose of helping the team succeed more. You add that with the work ethic, and you kind of have the ideal player.”

Leyva helped lead the Golden Eagles to the program’s most successful four-year run in its history. For starters, his class won four consecutive District Championships. In his freshman year, Leyva was part of a run to the TSSAA Class AAA State Tournament where the Golden Eagles fell to the eventual state champions, Brentwood, while finishing 11-9 overall. Shelbyville Central finished 2022 as the Region 3-AAA Champions as well after defeating Ooltewah in the final, 2-1. 

In his sophomore year, SCHS once again won its district championship, but fell to Cleveland in the Region Tournament, finishing 12-8-2 overall. In the spring of 2024 – Leyva’s junior season – Shelbyville Central’s season ended once again at the hands of Brentwood, but this time in the Region 5-AAA semifinals. Finally, this past season saw Leyva’s and so many other seniors’ careers end at home against Ravenwood in the Region 5-AAA semifinals, finishing with a 14-4-2 record overall to go along with winning the program’s fourth district title in a row.

A major factor in Shelbyville’s success with Leyva spearheading the attack was his incredible versatility and ability to play with and off of his teammates.

“He knows how to play a lot of different roles because he understands how to move off the ball really well,” Fritz explained. “If you need him to play wide, he can play as a wide player. If you need him to play inside, he can play inside. If you need a forward that can make runs, he can make runs. The one commonality in all of this is he can press, and every team wants to press and win the ball. He’s an active player, and that’s going to help any team up front that’s active like that.”

“I’m just excited to be able to watch him go do his thing and see how he succeeds at the next level.”

After a prolific high school career, Leyva says the moment where he was putting pen to paper was a realization of everything he has been working towards his entire career.

“It was kind of overwhelming at first just because of all the years I’ve played and all the work I’ve put in, but it was just a really good moment to be with my family, friends, and teammates. I’ve always wanted to continue playing soccer since I was a little kid, so this was special to me,” Leyva concluded.

Leyva hopes to crack the varsity lineup at some point during his freshman year, beginning on Thursday, September 4th, at the University of Indianapolis at 6:30 p.m. This match will be streamed live on the GLVC Sports Network at glvcsn.com/uindy/. For the rest of LMU’s matchups, FloSports will stream the majority of the Railsplitters’ games during the season.