By By Adam Robinson
sports editor
W.S. Neal High School senior football player Jeremy Nicholson signed his letter of intent Thursday to play football for the Jacksonville State University Gamecocks.
Nicholson, a four-year football player at the school, is also a member of the basketball team and track team. He posted 639 yards on 75 rushes his senior season despite missing a couple of games due to injury. Nicholson had an average of 8.5 rushing yards per carry and scored nine of the Eagles 14 rushing touchdowns during the 2009 season and 17 total.
Along with running back, Nicholson was kick and punt returner where he had several runbacks for touchdown and caught six passes this season at running back for 36 total yards.
Nicholson was a 2008 state champion on the Eagle track team as a hurdler.
Nicholson said Jacksonville State has plans to play wide receiver.
First year head football coach Kevin Jordan said Nicholson was a very instrumental part in the Eagle football team in a lot of ways.
Jordan said that in practice sometimes, you have certain kids that will pick it up or to go full speed on their reps and that kind of thing and that has never been an issue with Jeremy.
From his sophomore season to his senior season, Nicholson totaled 131 rushes for 868 and 10 touchdowns and totaled 61 catches for 950 yards and 10 carries.
According to Jacksonville State University’s athletic website, head football coach Jack Crowe called the 2010 Jacksonville State University signees the best he has ever signed.
Along with W.S. Neal’s Nicholson, the Gamecocks signed the 2009 Mr. Football from the state of Alabama Coty Blanchard from class 4A state champion Cherokee County.
Jacksonville State finished with the best record in the Ohio Valley Conference with an 8-3 record last season and finished with a final national ranking of 16th.
Nicholson joins Cory Freeman and Justin Howard as other W.S. Neal High School Eagles who have went on to play with the Gamecocks.