Kevin Eckleberry

Sports Editor

Kentucky is getting another LaGrange High football player.

Joseph Mansour, a senior kicker for the Grangers, has verbally committed to play football for the Wildcats.

He’s the latest in a growing line of Grangers who have gone to Kentucky, including incoming freshmen Qua Huzzie and Tristian  Johnson.

Kentucky is getting an all-state kicker with tremendous range, as evidenced by the 55-yard game-winning field goal he made against Troup last season.

As a sophomore, Mansour made four field goals of at least 46 yards.

Mansour also averaged 41 yards per punt, and he routinely boomed kickoffs into the end zone.

“He can do it all,” LaGrange High head coach Steve Pardue said. “He can kick off, punt, make long field goals. And he’ll become more and more consistent.”

Mansour’s prodigious kickoffs, Pardue said, made him especially attractive to college coaches.

“The kickoffs, that’s such a big thing now,” he said.

Pardue said Mansour liked what he saw after visiting the Lexington, Ky. campus.

“He kind of fell in love with the place,” Pardue said. “He decided that’s where he wanted to go, and he’ll have a chance to play.”

Mansour had no shortage of options, with a number of big-time college programs hoping to lure him.

“He looked at a lot of places,” Pardue

Mansour, a right fielder, is also a standout on the LaGrange High baseball team.

LaGrange High opens its season Aug. 27 at home against Newnan.