WEST POINT — There is no big secret to the success of the West Point High School football team, and the Green Wave seniors are convinced that the same key to wins on the field is a key to making them attractive to college coaches.
“The coaches pushed you,” wide receiver Collin Ferguson said. “Everybody pushed you. It was really a family thing. You had brothers that pushed you to get better every day.”
“Every coach around here is going to push you to get you to the next level,” Jacoby McQuiller said. “It teaches you to work hard.”
Ferguson and McQuiller were among 10 West Point seniors gathered in the school auditorium Wednesday morning for National Signing Day.
Ten would be a big number for just about any school, but at West Point it’s not exactly unexpected.
“We’re about the same every year,” West Point coach Chris Chambless said. “The Mississippi JUCOs and every now and then some D-Is will come in here. They scout us really well and pick our kids, and they make some good choices.
“We’re just proud of the opportunity our guys get to go on and get their education. That’s first and foremost, the most important thing.”
And the Class of 2022 might not be done sending football players on to college programs.
“We always have one, two, three, four more after this day who are able to also sign,” Chambless said. “We’re not through working for these guys. We’re going to have some more guys go.”
Seven of the 10 already going are headed to the same place: Northeast Mississippi Community College in Booneville. Chambless said he has no special pipeline to the Tigers’ program.
“They just happened to take a liking to our guys, which is awesome,” Chambless said. “I think it’s a good place.”
The players preparing to play there for the next two years obviously agree.
“The environment’s great, and they have great coaches,” said Fred McMillian, expertly maneuvering around the auditorium on crutches two months after ankle surgery. “They have a good defensive backs coach, and they’ll make me better.”
“I feel like they’re going to get me to the next level, get me to D-I and a prospect for the NFL,” Jacoby McQuiller said. “I feel like it’s a good program. I feel like I can go in and play.”
“Going down there, getting a tour of the campus and seeing how they do things, it kind of made me feel at home,” Jalen Lairy said.
Joshua Lairy also is heading to Northeast..
“It’s pretty amazing,” Jalen Lairy said. “Being able to stay together is just amazing.”
Joshua Lairy said that same feeling extends toward the entire group of Green Wave seniors heading to Booneville.
“I’m just glad we get to stay together because it’s a strong bond we’ve got going on,” he said. “Throughout my years of playing football I never made a strong bond like this before.”
At least one West Point senior felt the makings of that kind of feeling at Northeast.
“It was the brotherhood,” Chris Dean said. “It just felt like the right spot.”
As did West Point High School, as each of the players said the coaching staff and the work ethic they instilled are the main reasons both for the Green Wave’s success on the field and their ability to get the attention of college coaches.
“You’re used to winning, so you know how it feels,” McMillian said. “Work harder, get a spot, move on to the next level.”
“We’re from a championship team with championship coaches, and we all take football very seriously,” added Keon Cunningham, one of two West Point seniors who chose Northwest Mississippi Community College in Senatobia.
“We’ve got good coaches that take care of us every day,” added Shelton Binder, also headed to Northeast.
“It gets you prepared for everything,” Dean said about playing football at West Point. “Going here is like going to a mini college, if you ask me.”
Cameron Young, who, like Cunningham, will play at Northwest, had a similar thought.
“The structure and discipline we have here, it should be an easy transition,” Young said of moving on to college football. “It’s going to be way more work, it’s going to be different, but it’s going to be fun.”
Young said it didn’t take long for Northwest to make a positive impression him.
“It was the school that felt the most like home,” he said. “I got a good vibe from the coaches, and everything just felt right.
“The first time I saw the coaches, the vibe I got, I kind of felt that was where I was going to go. Everything stayed smooth, so today it was an easy pick.”
The Rangers were always the first choice for Cunningham.
“The coaches, the way they play, the way they run their defense,” were the reasons, he said.
For the seven players going to Northeast, the two headed to Northwest and Jamarquez Melton, who is headed to Copiah-Lincoln Community College, just getting the chance to play at the next level was itself a more difficult accomplishment this year, as college players across the country were granted another year of eligibility because of the COVID-19 pandemic, clogging up rosters and limiting scholarship opportunities.
“It took a lot of hard work to get to this point,” Chambless said. “These guys, it’s been pretty special to secure them a place to go.”
But like previous West Point players, they were prepared well to take advantage of any opportunity.
“I think it’s the physicality and the mental toughness that we try to instill in our guys,” Chambless said. “They carry that on with them in the future wherever they go.
“Our guys come from good families also. They have a good support system.”
He was talking about their home lives, but Chambless also made it clear they have a family in the school’s field house as well.
As he told his departing players, “We love you, we appreciate you, and this is always going to be your home.”
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