Although Christmas was two weeks ago, former Meridian High School football player Kenney Wooten III received perhaps his most cherished gift in the mail this Monday afternoon.

Wooten wasn’t able to open the package himself, as he’s currently spending time with his grandmother, Shirley Adkins, in Scooba, so he outsourced the task to his mother, Tracy Adkins. 

“I just got my degree in the mail today — my mom called and told me my degree came in the mail today,” Wooten, 19, said. “I feel good because I’m not just going to school for football, I’m going to school to actually learn something. Football is good, too, because it’s paying for my school. I graduated early, so I’m proud of myself.”

Armed with an associate of arts degree after recently graduating from Itawamba Community College, Wooten, listed at 6-foot-1, 235 pounds, will head to Murray State University in Murray, Ky., over the weekend where he will finish his last two seasons as a student-athlete. Wooten, who was born in Meridian, said Murray State’s proximity to the Queen City played a role in influencing his decision, as the University of New Mexico and the University of Toledo, among others, were also jockeying for his services. Wooten committed to Murray State Dec. 14.

“I had a couple of Division I offers, but Murray State was the biggest school that was closest to me,” Wooten explained. “I liked the environment; I went on my visit and loved it. They treated me well and told me how they would play me at 3-4 outside linebacker. They showed me the campus, and I went to their (December) graduation, and that was nice, too.”

While Murray State’s athletic facilities and campus impressed Wooten, he was just as blown away by the school’s academic support staff and its members’ interest in his life after football.

“When I went on my visit, they made my schedule — they sat me down with a counselor, and we went over all of it,” he said. “I told them I wanted to go into coaching, and they said they would put in some classes for coaching, and I’m going to be majoring in physical education.”

While Wooten accumulated a number of memories throughout his one-and-a-half semesters at Itawamba, he said one quickly jumps out as his favorite. 

“The biggest moment I remember was us beating Mississippi Gulf Coast — they were in the top 5,” Wooten said. “Beating a top-five team the first game of the season that people didn’t think we could beat. They thought we were going to lose the game, and we beat them by two touchdowns.”

Wooten graduated from Meridian High School in 2015 but said he still maintains frequent contact with head coach Calvin Hampton and defensive line coach Demetrius Hill. And whenever he visits the area, he said he makes a point to stop by the school, as his time playing for the Wildcats helped equip him to play at the collegiate level.

“Meridian High School prepared me very well — Coach Hampton, Coach Hill and Coach (Larry) Weems, they did the best they could for us, and took us to camps,” Wooten said. “Coach Hill knows a lot of people, and he stays in touch with me. Every time I come home, I go by the high school to see my coaches. When I don’t know something, I go to Coach Hampton — he really just explains it in more detail. Coach Hampton told me that when I went to Itawamba, I made a great decision and that he thought I was going to do well there. And that’s what I did. I respect (my former coaches) a lot.”

Wooten is the son of Kenney Wooten Jr.