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<p>Hazleton Area&#8217;s Adrian Otero proved to be an outstanding runner and receiver throughout his high school football career.</p><p>But his real passion was on the other side of the ball, and that&#8217;s where he&#8217;ll play in college.</p><p>Otero signed Wednesday with the University of Maine where he&#8217;ll be a linebacker &#8212; another position where he excelled for the Cougars.</p><p>Otero was one of five high schoolers to sign with Maine during the early signing period. He was also recruited by Villanova and Stony Brook.</p><p>&#8220;They were one of the first colleges that came to see me,&#8221; Otero said of Maine. &#8220;They&#8217;ve been with me throughout the whole process.&#8221;</p><p>What college programs saw was a powerful running back who developed into an outstanding receiver. Otero spent more time split out this past season than in the backfield and finished with 35 receptions &#8212; a personal best.</p><p>But Wyoming Valley Conference coaches raved more about Otero&#8217;s ability as a linebacker. He finished the season with 124 tackles, five tackles-for-loss and a sack. He also had a fumble recovery and blocked a field goal.</p><p>Otero is perfectly fine with giving up the offensive part of football.</p><p>&#8220;Defense, because I like to hit people,&#8221; said the 6-foot-2, 225-pounder. &#8220;Also, I control the defense when I play in the middle.&#8221;</p><p>Otero saw playing time at the varsity level as a freshman at outside linebacker. He moved inside as a sophomore and became a fixture there. He earned Class 6A All-State honors as a senior and was named to the Times Leader All-WVC first team as a linebacker this past season.</p><p>A big accomplishment was Otero will be leaving the Hazleton Area program in better shape than when he entered it. The Cougars finished 7-5, posting their first winning season since 2009. The team played for the District 2 Class 6A championship.</p><p>&#8220;Everyone had their doubts we&#8217;d have a winning season,&#8221; Otero said, &#8220;but we came out with it.&#8221;</p><p>Otero will be joining a Maine program that plays at the Football Championship Subdivision level, formerly known as Division I-AA. The Black Bears finished 4-6 this past season, but two losses were by one point.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Hazleton Area&#8217;s Adrian Otero, left, signed Wednesday to play at the University of Maine where he&#8217;ll be a linebacker. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/web1_TTL082417HSF-TAB-HazletonArea-Preview_1_CMYK.jpg</photo0><caption0>Hazleton Area&#8217;s Adrian Otero, left, signed Wednesday to play at the University of Maine where he&#8217;ll be a linebacker. </caption0><photoCredit0>Bill Tarutis file photo | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By John Erzar</p><p>jerzar@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach John Erzar at 570-991-6394 or on Twitter @TLJohnErzar</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Hazleton Area’s Adrian Otero signs on to play at Maine