Ellis Glaw spent his childhood chasing dreams on the gridiron, and no other sport held the allure of football.

Until Glaw pulled on a rugby kit.

In the six months since Glaw, as an all-district linebacker, helped the Chaps reach the Class 5A Division I championship game, the trajectory of his athletic career has taken a dramatic shift. Rugby has replaced football as Glaw’s focus, and the 2010 Westlake High School graduate couldn’t be more satisfied.

“I think rugby is the greatest sport in the world,” Glaw said recently from Canada, where he is playing for the U.S. High School All-American Boys’ National Rugby Team in an international competition. “It’s constantly moving, you get to play offense and defense, and it just never stops.”

It appeared that Glaw’s athletic career might have stopped earlier this year. He signed a letter-of-intent to play football at Dartmouth University in February, but the Ivy League school’s convoluted admissions process prevented enrollment.

A few months later, Glaw gained admission to Southern Methodist University in Dallas, where he will play for the school’s club rugby team while majoring in business.

“Dartmouth fell through, but things worked out for the best,” he said. “To be honest, I didn’t want to leave Texas. And I’ll have plenty of rugby to play here.”

Although the nonscholarship SMU club will provide plenty of opportunities for Glaw, the presence of the heralded Dallas Harlequins rugby side offers an added incentive.

The Harlequins boast a deep and well-established program that includes a youth team. Glaw said he expects to play for the Harlequins, and he believes that their status as one of the nation’s most successful rugby clubs will only hasten his development as a player.

“I’m definitely going to pursue rugby,” he said. “I love it, and I do think that I can have a future in it if I keep working hard.”

Glaw’s hard work has paid plenty of dividends since he first started playing the sport just two years ago. He helped Westlake’s club rugby team reach the national tournament earlier this year, and his play caught the attention of U.S. Rugby officials.

The national coaches liked the speed and athleticism of the 6-0, 195-pound Glaw, a former running back who converted to outside linebacker for the Westlake football team. More importantly, they valued the aggressive nature nurtured by all those years of playing football.

Glaw was named to the U.S. High School All-American Boys’ National Under-19 Rugby Team as a back in June. After the squad whipped Canada’s under-18 Ontario team Saturday, Glaw earned Man of the Match recognition.

Such rapid development could serve as an example to other prep athletes. Glaw said that his Westlake team “is on par” athletically with the U.S.’s under-19 squad.

“But, technically, it’s completely different,” he said. “These guys [on the national team] have been playing rugby for a long time and understand the game.”

Still, Glaw hopes that his transition from football to rugby becomes commonplace for the thousands of dynamic high school football players who may lack a future in the sport. He believes that if U.S. Rugby can tap into the country’s deep vein of athletic talent, than the U.S. can become formidable enough to challenge South Africa, New Zealand or one the other half-dozen countries that dominate international rugby.

“I think U.S. rugby is a lot like U.S. soccer was 15-20 years ago,” Glaw said. “We’re still developing the sport here. But we have the athletes here; we just need to get them to play rugby. I think in 10 or 15 years, the U.S. can be a force to be reckoned with at the international level.”