As every player grabs their pen to sign the letter that will begin the next chapter of their life, coach Deffebaugh counts down from three to build the suspense. The players autograph their letter of intent that will start their college career.

There were a total of six athletes that signed on the early signing day. There were four baseball players, one basketball player, and one volleyball player. Holt Ross and John Toney signed with Allen County Community College. Rally Miller signed with Hendrix College in Conway. Logan Lightner signed with Lyon College in Batesville, AR. Lawson Jenkins signed with Missouri Southern State University in Joplin, Missouri. Kyler Greenlee signed to play gym and beach volleyball at Hendrix College.

Going to college can be a stressful thing, but these athletes have found great reasons to continue their education and athletic career with the college of their choice.

“I just really like the coaches and the area, it’s far enough away from home to where I’m like in college but still close enough to where I can come see my friends and family.” Jenkins said.

Rally Miller says that being at Hendrix wasn’t a hard choice because when he was there he said it felt like “home”.

“I fell in love with Hendrix just because of how small it is, and how close it is to home, and also the academic part has played a huge role in my choice of signing,” Miller said.

Kyler Greenlee claims that the education and the team is what she really liked about Hendrix because she felt comfortable.

“I really liked the campus and the team was very open and welcoming to me,” Greenlee said,  “The school is just so great educationally,” Greenlee said.

Lawson Jenkins is looking to continue his basketball career even past college and hopefully make his way over seas.

“The dream is to go play overseas after college. That’s another reason I chose Missouri Southern because that have two ex D1 players as coaches and they put a lot of players overseas.” Jenkins said.

Rally Miller is not only going to Hendrix to play baseball, but to also make his way into corporate law hearings and court cases.

“I want to become a lawyer. Probably a corporate lawyer,” Miller said. “So I don’t really want to be involved in criminal cases.”

Kyler Greenlee not only looks to pursue a career in playing the game she loves, but looks to find her way into the insurance industry.

“I’m planning to major in math and go on to either work in insurance or teach,” Greenlee said. “I’m looking to probably go back to college and get my masters, I’ll probably transfer to the U of A to finish.”