Ward Melville quarterback Hudson Philbrick commits to Stony Brook

When Hudson Philbrick was growing up, he attended countless Stony Brook football games just two minutes from his home.

Now, the Ward Melville quarterback will have the chance to wear the Seawolves uniform himself.

Philbrick, one of Long Island’s top returning quarterbacks, announced his commitment to Stony Brook on Instagram Wednesday night after drawing interest from several Division I programs.

“I believe in everything they stand for,” Philbrick said. “They’re all about community and brotherhood, and it’s everything that I strive to be. The way they push each other, the way they practice, the way they speak about each other is something I want to be around. Not only that, but I love those coaches, and I feel like they can develop me into the best person I can be.”

Philbrick, a rising senior and a 2025 first-team All-Long Island selection, will get to play in front of his friends and family for years to come.

“I get to be right in my hometown,” Philbrick said. “I live two minutes away. My parents get to watch me, all my friends, all the little kids who look up to me, and I cherish that. It would be awesome if I start playing in a game and one of the little kids I train gets to see me play.”

Philbrick’s recruiting process accelerated during the spring as college coaches visited Ward Melville to watch him throw. He received a scholarship offer from Syracuse.

FCS schools such as Lehigh, Cornell, Colgate and Wagner, among others, also were interested in him before he decided on Stony Brook.

“The intangible thing that he’s going to bring to the table is his leadership,” Ward Melville coach Chris Boltrek said. “I don’t know that I’ve been around somebody who puts in the time and effort to perfect his craft with the passion that he does. He lives, eats and breathes this thing. That’s why I think he’s going to come in on a different level than a lot of other freshmen.”

Philbrick is coming off a junior season in which he led Ward Melville to a Suffolk Division I championship. He completed 112 of 162 passes for 2,000 yards and 24 touchdowns and rushed 88 times for 495 yards and seven touchdowns.

“He really was impressive last year,” Boltrek said. “I don’t know how much better he could possibly be than he was as a junior. But if he’s able to improve even half as much as he improved between his sophomore and junior year, then his senior year, he should be one of the best ever to pick up a football on Long Island.”

The Patriots enter the 2026 season as the Suffolk Division I preseason No. 1 seed for the first time in school history. Philbrick and the Patriots are seeking the program’s first Long Island football championship.

“It’s everything,” Philbrick said. “It’s a standard for us. It’d be exciting to win it; this is what we’re working for.”

Asked what his younger self would think if he knew he would one day play quarterback at Stony Brook, Philbrick didn’t hesitate.

“I’d probably jump through the roof,” Philbrick said. “I went to so many games, I’d say that’d be a dream come true. And it is.”