Six Aiken Hornets football players signed Wednesday to extend their athletic and academic careers beyond the high school level.
Phillip Collins signed to play at the Division I level at The Citadel, and Zachary Bailey, Kijuan Guinyard, Rashad McMillan, Travis Taylor and Sam Toole all signed to go to the Augusta United Graduate Academy, which bills itself as a “post-graduate high school that serves as an academic and spiritual character builder for young adults.”
“The biggest thing is it means we’re moving in the right direction,” said Aiken head coach Olajuwon Paige. “Last year we signed two guys, and now we’ve moved up to six. So every year I just want to see us keep growing and putting more guys in school. Wins on the field are good, but when you can change a kid’s life and for him to go do something else and go into higher education, it’s great.”
Collins was a terror on the defensive line for the Hornets during their four-game season, accumulating 23 tackles, eight tackles for loss, five sacks and six forced fumbles.
He reflected on the years of hard work that led to a life-changing few seconds of signing paperwork. While attending a military school will be a major adjustment for him, he still found a place he could call home at The Citadel.
“The reason why I chose The Citadel is because it’s a family,” said Collins, who plans to study exercise science or go into physical therapy. “It’s got that family feeling. It’s about business and I’m about business, so I chose it.”
Bailey was a two-way player for the Hornets who ended up specializing at defensive end and producing in a big way. However, his previous time spent on offense meant he was always more than willing to step in to give a teammate a breather.
Guinyard was a leader for Aiken at his outside linebacker position, and Paige said that time missed due to injury didn’t lessen his impact – instead, he became a leader to his teammates from off the field.
McMillan was another standout at linebacker for the Hornets. Paige said he played with a level of physicality that showed his younger teammates what’s expected at that position.
Taylor was one of Aiken’s leading wide receivers with 259 yards and four touchdowns. At 6-foot-3 he can rise to get the football over defenders and plays aggressively, setting an example for some of the Hornets’ up-and-comers at receiver.
Toole was a formidable presence on Aiken’s lines, and Paige joked that he was always trying to find somebody to crash into as he opened holes for the run game.
The Hornets’ signees were part of a group that had to weather a lot of changes and hardships during their high school years, but Paige praised the foundation they’ve set as Aiken tries to get back to again becoming a winning program.
“There’s hope in Aiken,” Collins said. “Even though I’ve only won two games my whole high school career, if you just persevere and keep playing, college coaches will look at you. You’ve just got to ball out. If you do that and have good grades, you’ll be OK.”
Read the Full Aiken Standard article here.