CLEVELAND -- Glenville High School is about to send an unprecedented number of athletes to college, thanks to the school's football program.

There are more than 300,000 student athletes in the state of Ohio, and 96 percent of them don't receive Division 1 scholarships. But at Glenville High School Wednesday morning, 21 players picked up 21 pens and signed up for 21 college scholarships, reported 5 On Your Side's John Chandler.

Eleven of those scholarships are for NCAA Division I schools.

Nearby, tears welled in the eyes of their coach, Ted Ginn.

"Twenty-one is the number, but it's more … That's what it's about, it's about giving a kid a chance," said Ginn.

Football is Ginn's vehicle, and parents trust him to drive their sons down the right road.

For Robert Rose, it led to a scholarship at Ohio State University as one of the nation's top 20 recruits.

"If I never pick up a football and just get my education, he'll respect me for that," said Rose.

Although excitement was in the air, something was missing. The players held a moment of silence for Anthony Gordon, their teammate who died from a gunshot wound over the weekend.

"It was hard for everybody -- especially for me, because he was here with me. I'll always remember him," said Arvell Nelson, who is headed to Iowa.

And Ginn was reminded of his daily fight to keep kids off the streets, and on the sidelines.

"Everybody said, 'Oh, you don't go in the city, those kids don't do work.' I had to change that," said Ginn.

Glenville still has not won a state championship. But the Tarblooders' most important trophies aren't displayed in a glass case -- they are in college.

And the thought that one teammate will not get that chance made for an emotional morning at Glenville.