MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Seven current West Virginia University football players are taking the longest road trip of their Mountaineer careers.
 
Quarterback Garrett Greene, wide receiver Graeson Malashevich, offensive linemen Ja'Quay Hubbard and Nick Malone, linebacker Jared Bartlett, defensive lineman Jalen Thornton and defensive back Malachi Ruffin are visiting Germany, Italy and Greece for 12 days as members of the Chambers Elite Climbers.
 
Former Mountaineer player Wil Schoonover is also on the trip.
 
The Chambers Elite Climbers is part of Mountaineer football's 5^th Quarter Program, established in 2020 to create unique educational opportunities for participating student-athletes. Funding for the trip comes through a $1.6 million gift made by WVU alums John and Elaine Chambers.
 
Earlier this year, the Chambers Elite Climbers visited New York City for some professional networking opportunities with WVU graduates running businesses in the Big Apple.
 
"We got an opportunity to go to New York City for four days to do a lot of networking - probably experiences I would have never had without this program," Hubbard said.
 
The travel group departed Monday and will visit various sports organizations in Holland, Germany, Greece and Italy before returning to Morgantown on Saturday, May 23.
 
"The Chambers Elite Climbers program is the premier, enhanced, off-the-field development program in all of college football," Coleman Barnes, senior associate athletics director and football's chief of staff, said. "The career preparation, cultural field trips, humanitarian efforts and networking opportunities are shaping the future of our student-athletes. In addition, being able to study abroad is an amazing lifetime experience that very few college football players ever get to experience."
 
Cities the group will be visiting include Amsterdam, Berlin, Frankfurt, Athens and Rome. Other stops in Germany include Münster, Düsseldorf, Bielefeld and Cologne.
 
The 5^th Quarter Program's mission statement is centered on five pillars – character development, leadership development, real life, career development and social responsibility.
 
"I just wanted to say thank you to John and Elaine Chambers," Thornton said. "The Chambers Elite Climbers is an amazing group that has enabled us to do a lot of great things.
 
"As student-athletes, we have very minimal time to do things outside (of the football facility), so to get outside of here and get in that position to life after football can be challenging at times. The Chambers Elite Climbers is the perfect position to get into to set yourself up for life," Thornton added.
 
"We are excited to have even more of our student-athletes participate in this program, made possible due to the generosity of John and Elaine Chambers," Barnes said.
 
The 12-day trip coincides with a break in offseason training before the team's summer strength and conditioning program resumes after Memorial Day.