Some call it synchronicity or destiny. At APU, we call it God's providence. By any name, it is what brought Cougar linebacker Jeremiah Beery to Azusa Pacific.

Returning home from a college search trip with his parents, Berry saw the freeway sign "Azusa Pacific University, next exit." "I thought, 'OK, we'll try that out,'" said Beery. "We picked up a pamphlet that listed [the then] Executive Vice President Jon Wallace on it." As it turns out, Beery's father Jim was good buddies with Wallace until they went their separate ways. Soon after the campus visit, Jim called Wallace, and "they started talking about the university and its football program," Beery explained. "The next thing I knew, I was coming to school [at APU]."

Berry graduated from Azusa Pacific in December 2001 as a two-time NAIA All-Scholar Athlete, two-time NAIA All-American, and one of the greatest linebackers in the university's football program's 37-year history. Beery's on-the-field abilities, coupled with his academic prowess, led to an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship from the National College Football Hall of Fame Foundation. Beery received his award in New York City at a black-tie event. He was joined at the ceremony by fellow scholarship recipients Drew Brees of Purdue University; Kyle Vander Bosch of the University of Nebraska, Lincoln; Scott Becker of the Air Force Academy; and Heisman Trophy winner Chris Weinke of Florida State University.

Hindsight is 20/20, and a freeway sign, a pamphlet, and four years later, Beery can look back and clearly see God's providence in his journey to Azusa. "[Things] have worked out great. It might sound crazy, but God brought me here."