On Wednesday, numerous athletes around Lauderdale County signed to play their sport in college, most of which were football players.

Meridian High had eight football players sign, West Lauderdale had five sign and Lamar had one sign. Lamar also had a golfer sign on Wednesday.

Meridian High

Eight more Wildcats are heading to the next level, and six will be staying in Mississippi.

Roscoe Tucker signed with East Mississippi Community College because he wanted to stay close to home.

“They’re a winning program. They’ve got a lot of rings. They’ve got a great coaching staff, I just want to be a part of a great coaching staff,” Tucker said.

Tylan Cole signed with Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, Elijah Brown signed with Belhaven University, Russell Brooks signed with East Central Community College, and both Demondra Scott and Eddie Bennett signed with Hinds Community College.

Howard Atterberry, Jr. and Fernando Atterberry, Jr. are heading out of state to Central Georgia Technical College.

“I wish you the best of luck. I love you. I appreciate the sacrifice and commitment you made to this football team and this school, and I look forward to what you’re going to do in the future. Congratulations,” former Meridian football coach John Douglass told the Wildcats.

West Lauderdale

West Lauderdale parents and staff celebrated Wednesday as five Knights signed on to continue their athletic careers at the college level.

Jackson Parker, Landon Vaughn, Paxton George and Jordan Gowdy signed letters of intent to continue football at Holmes Community College. Parker said he would also continue to play baseball at the college as well.

Their teammate, Zach Simpson, announced he would be heading to Indiana State University to further his athletic and academic careers.

West Lauderdale football coach Brock Clay said he was proud of his players, and he would let their record speak for itself.

Clay said the five Knights ended their high school careers with a 35-13 win-loss record, a district championship and reaching the second round of the playoffs in each of their four years.

Wednesday’s signing was bittersweet, Clay said, as they celebrate the student athletes’ accomplishments but also prepare to say goodbye.

“These guys get a chance to further their career, but its also the next step in all of us seeing them progress on and move on away from us,” he said. “Gentlemen, I’m very proud of you.”

Lamar

The two athletes that signed at Lamar demonstrated both athletic and academic excellence during their time at the school.

Thad Ransier chose to play football at Samford University in Birmingham because the school is close to home and has a beautiful campus, solid academics and a winning football team.

“Samford was my first D1 offer, and the defensive coordinator that’s at Samford right now gave me my first offer when he was at (East Mississippi Community College). It was really the relationships with the coaches that was the deciding factor,” Ransier said.

While at Lamar, Ransier earned a 4.0 GPA and a 31 on the ACT. He is considering studying anthropology or political science because he has an interest in a law career.

“He wants to be the best player on the field. He wants to be the strongest in the weight room. He’s just very competitive in everything that he does. He wants to be the best, including in the classroom,” Lamar football coach Jacob Land said.

Lamar golf coach Kyle Carpenter said Emory University is perfect for Brady Lagendyk, who signed with the Eagles on Wednesday, because the school puts education first.

“Brady is definitely one of the hardest workers I know. As soon as he gets out of school he comes to the golf course, does his drills, does his skill building until dark. After dark he goes inside and works on stuff, then he goes home and does all of his homework,” Carpenter said.

Lagendyk, who earned a superscored 36 on the ACT, said he chose Emory because the school combines elite academics with high-level athletics. He is considering studying finance at this point.

“Obviously it’s a great school. It’s going to give me the chance to study what I want to study,” Lagendyk said. “Through my time at Lamar I’ve implanted a pretty good work ethic while I’m here. In golf that’s the most important thing.”

Thomas Howard contributed to this report.