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EUREKA, Mo. – After ABC paid for a banner in downtown Eureka, it’s now blatantly apparent that hometown boy Clayton Echard will be the next man to search for love on “The Bachelor.”

He is set to appear on Michelle Young’s upcoming season of “The Bachelorette.” The season premieres on October 19.

The chiseled man is a former Mizzou football player and describes himself on Instagram as a “former freestyle rapper and washed-up athlete now trying his luck in orthopaedic sales.” Based on his Instagram feed, it appears he works for Stryker. It is unclear where Echard resides. He has posted multiple photos on his Instagram and tagged his location as Columbia, Missouri and Scottsdale, Arizona.

In Echard’s 2010 senior season at Eureka High School, the team went 9-2 overall and 7-1 in the Suburban West Conference. The only team they lost to all season was Lindbergh High School. They met in the regular season and Eureka lost 28-42. Then Lindbergh ended Eureka’s season on November 5 in the first playoff game 6-14.

Echard, 28, began his Mizzou football career in 2011 when he redshirted his freshman year. His final season was in 2015 at tight end. He played on special teams in all 14 games of the 2014 season. He had 3 solo tackles and 1 assist. In the 2015 season, he started one game and caught two passes.

Echard had a professional tryout with the Seattle Seahawks after his time at Missouri.

Bachelor creator Mike Fleiss tweeted out a clue on Wednesday, September 15 that Echard was going to be the bachelor.

On Thursday, September 16 Echard was in Eureka filming for the show. Fans stopped whatever they were doing and waited in downtown Eureka to try and get a glimpse of Echard himself. ”I found out about this two hours ago, and I left work early for it,” Mollie Johnson said.

Even those who knew him from growing up in Eureka. ”Those dang dimples, I mean those dimples will blow any girl out of the water,” said Miranda Schaeffer, who said her older sister and Echard had dated when they were younger. “When he got this I was like this is very well deserving and a really good highlight for our community.”

Echard ended up surprising some of the fans when he walked up to a crowd the film crew had positioned under the banner.

“I’m excited, I’m also a little nervous,” Echard said, talking to the crowd about the journey that lies ahead. “I’m looking to find my person.”