Recruiting season a busy time for Cavaliers
Published 2:00 pm Wednesday, June 7, 2017
By Kevin Eckleberry
kevin.eckleberry@lagrangenews.com
HOGANSVILLE – The offers are pouring in for the Callaway Cavaliers.
While offensive lineman Keiondre Jones is Callaway’s most high-profile recruit, a number of his teammates are getting plenty of attention from college programs as well.
At the moment, eight Callaway football players have offers, and four of them have offers from SEC schools.
Matt Neighbors, Callaway’s running-backs coach and recruiting coordinator, believes the list will continue to grow leading up to national signing day in February.
“We’ve got four other guys in this 2018 class that I think by February will sign Division I,” Neighbors said. “I’m expecting we’ll sign eight to 10 guys from this 2018 class.”
Callaway’s most heavily-recruited players are Jones, who will be a junior this season, and sophomore Cartavious Bigsby.
A number of other underclassmen are also receiving extensive college attention, including some players who have yet to play a varsity snap.
“We’ve got three that are coming in as freshmen that are already getting major looks,” Neighbors said. “I expect them to get SEC offers pretty quick.”
Among the seniors are Courtney Williams and Lichon Terrell, and they both received their first offers from an SEC school.
Terrell and Williams both received offers from Mississippi State last weekend.
Williams is a play-making defensive back and wide receiver, while Terrell is a standout defensive lineman.
Terrell had a dominant performance in Callaway’s spring game against Troup, and Neighbors said that turned some heads.
“The spring game, he probably had his best performance, and Georgia and South Carolina were both there, and Auburn was there,” Neighbors said. “It was a big showcase for him, and he opened a lot of eyes with that game.”
While Terrell has close to 30 college offers, Williams has 14 offers.
Another Callaway player with an SEC offer on the table is Bigsby, who still has three seasons of high-school football remaining.
Among Bigsby’s offers is one from Alabama, and that came during a visit to the school in February.
Bigsby, one of the most sought-after members of the class of 2020, also has offers from, among others, Alabama, Florida, Clemson, Florida State and Georgia.
Bigsby plays offense and defense, and he had a touchdown run during the spring game against Troup.
Among the seniors with numerous offers is running back DJ Atkins, who made quite a splash in his first season as a Cavalier with more than 2,000 yards.
Senior defensive back Kobe Jackson has multiple college offers, as does senior wide receiver DQ Wilkerson.
Nathan Sapp, a junior defensive lineman, also has a college offer.
On Thursday, many of Callaway’s players will participate in a satellite camp at LaGrange College, with college coaches and scouts from across the country expected to attend.
“We’ll have a lot of guys there, and we’ll have some things pop from that as well,” Neighbors said.
OF NOTE: During the 2016 season, there were 18 former Callaway players on college rosters. That was the most of any Class AA team in the state.