Four seniors from Stanhope Elmore signed their National Letters of Intent on Wednesday to continue their football careers into college.
The seniors, Gary Hood, Jaquori Williams, Trey Killingsworth and William Whitlow were honored by their teammates, family members and the coaching staff of the Stanhope Elmore Mustangs on Wednesday.
Head coach Brian Bradford offered some thoughts about each of the four players during the event.
Hood, an offensive lineman, is heading to Huntington College in Montgomery, which fields an NCAA Division III team.
Bradford said Hood was one of the most intelligent players he had coached and someone who understood what he needed to do – and what went wrong, before the coaches had to tell him.
“Gary is one of those that you hardly ever needed to tell what to do. He was very intellectual on the blocking schemes,” Bradford said. “(He) kept everyone else in line and who to block and what to do. I said the other night at the banquet, he’s one of those that’s really hard to get onto, because you start to yell at him because he messed up, he knew exactly what he did, how he did it, why he did it that way and why it was wrong before you can get a word in. He’s always on top of the game.”
Williams, a cornerback and free safety, will be continuing his football career at Dodge City Community College in Kansas.
Bradford said Williams had worked hard to become physically able to play football and evolved from a freshman who ‘didn’t look’ like a college athlete into one that did.
“Really worked himself into a college athlete,” Bradford said. “When we saw him as a freshman, he didn’t look like that. Tall, skinny, couldn’t run really well, but he is a testament to what the weight room and hard work will do for you. For him to be sitting here and signing this scholarship makes us coaches very excited for how he’s changed as a person, physically and personally.”
Killingsworth, the starting quarterback for the Stanhope Elmore Mustangs, will be continuing his playing at the Chilton Preparatory Academy.
Bradford said that Killingsworth had evolved tremendously as a person, and took great pride in seeing it.
“I was talking with his mother before this started, and it’s very rare to see a person change as much as Trey has,” the coach said. “It’s a real blessing to be able to be a part of that and experience that. From being a snotty-nosed little kid that knew everything to right before his senior year, texting me and saying ‘coach, I need to change. I need you to help me change to accomplish the things I want to accomplish.’ He was the leader of the football team, emotionally, physically - everything. He was our guy, always positive.”
Whitlow, a defensive lineman, will continue his playing career with the University of Memphis Tigers.
Bradford said that it was obvious that Whitlow was both a great football player and a great person that nobody could hate.
“Where do I start with William? Man, it’s been a blessing to get to know this man. He is, all-around, a great person. Every recruiter, and thousands of them have called me on him, they’ve called me and I’ve told them the same thing, if you get him, you’re getting a great football player. There’s no doubt about that. If you watch any amount of film, you watch the first three plays, you know he’s one of the best around. Other than that, he’s just an outstanding person. He’s got that personality that everyone’s drawn to. I don’t know anyone and I haven’t met anyone that hates him. He’s a very dynamic player, and he’s the only player that I know of that got the principal so excited he got a penalty during a football game.”
