Dequadrion Welch just received quite the compliment.
The Noxubee County High School wide receiver was awarded the best overall camper award at the second annual Jeffery Simmons Football Camp last weekend.
It’s an extremely high honor for Welch, who is only a rising sophomore, to attain, especially because the player awarding the honor is an NFL star and a Noxubee County alum himself.
“It’s going to help me a lot,” Welch said on the momentum of winning the best overall camper award. “I feel like I’ve gotten better over the summer. When I was working at the camp, I felt like, ‘Oh yeah, this is easy’ because I saw an improvement on how much better I got.”
Welch played somewhat sparingly as a freshman, but he’s looking to use this positive momentum and parlay it into more playing time and big plays on the field. He said he already has this year’s goals mapped out.
“I’m looking forward to having a great season,” Welch said. “Like over 500 yards and at least 10 touchdowns. But my biggest goal this year is to win the state championship.”
Noxubee County coach Teddy Young spoke about his hopes for Welch in 2021 as well.
“He’s a tough kid, like I said he’s a hard worker, and we’re expecting big things out of him this year as one of our younger receivers,” Young said.
Making a big impact as an underclassman is no easy feat, especially for a talented team like Noxubee County, but Welch believes he has the talent and work ethic to make a big contribution this season. Welch said that winning this award helps give him the confidence that he needs to jump on the field and help the team win.
Welch said his favorite part of Simmons’ camp was the seven-on-seven tournament as well as the one-on-one drills earlier in Day 2 of the event July 10. Welch really benefited from the work he put in last season and earlier this summer.
“He was probably the first kid in every drill. He’s very coachable. He’s really a ‘yes, sir; no, sir’ kind of kid, and he really showed his sportsmanship,” Young said.
Young also said that as long as Welch keeps his mentality and continues to work hard, he should be able to repeat as best overall camper should Simmons put on another camp in 2022.
As a second-time camper, Welch really felt more comfortable at camp in 2021.
“Last year I approached the camp differently, because I didn’t know how to do any of the drills; I wasn’t comfortable during one-on-ones, ” Welch said. “But this year I came ready and prepared, knowing how to do the drills and ready to compete in one-on-ones.”
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