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Sometimes dreams do come true. On Wednesday evening, LaGrange High baseball standout Tanner Langley put pen to paper and signed to play baseball at Georgia Southern starting next fall – a lifelong goal for the senior.

“I have dreamed of this day since I was four years old,” Langley said. “This feels surreal honestly.”

Langley is following in his father’s footsteps. Langley’s father Dustin etched his name into the Eagles history books by accumulating the most doubles in team history.

He is an Eagle by birth. Langley is not a Granger by birth, but he is a Granger by heart. He transferred into LaGrange before his sophomore season and made an instant impact. After being nervous at first, Langley found a home in LaGrange going as far as saying that he “hopes [his] kids play here.”

“This place really is a family,” Langley said.”‘It is hard to describe how much the school has meant to me since I got here on day one.”

He always envisioned Statesboro as the next step on his baseball journey and that came to fruition when he received an offer from Georgia Southern earlier this year.

“I almost didn’t believe it at first,” Langley said. “It was one of the most emotional moments of my life. It felt so good that all my hard work paid off.”

Langley has been a stalwart in the outfield since transferring in. He was a key contributor in his first season at LaGrange — helping the team make only its second state championship in program history. He followed that up with an even more impressive junior season in which he truly broke out. It was the second straight season he got a taste of playing in big ball fields in the state championship game.

“It was unreal because when I came here I never expected us to go to back-to-back championships,” Langley said. 

It was not overnight success for Langley when he transferred to LaGrange. He had to put in the work and prove to his new coach that he belonged.

“He has accepted all the work and has made himself a better player,” Branch said. “It has been nice to see his development.”

Branch and Langley made an instant connection. The work that Langley was willing to put in to prove himself as a fledgling Granger a few years ago helped put him on the path to Georgia Southern. Branch’s guidance has also been a major factor in Langley getting a shot with Georgia Southern.

“Coach Branch has done so much for me,” Langley said. “He is a great coach, but he helps me off the field and has such a great coaching staff around him.”

Branch has been a supporter of Langley since day one.

Georgia Southern is calling him home, but Langley has unfinished business at LaGrange High first.

“Hopefully we can go to a third state championship in a row and win it this year in my final season,” Langley said, flashing a grin from ear to ear.