Although the early college football recruiting period in December has taken some of the shine off the traditional Signing Day on the first Wednesday in February, it’s still a big deal at Oak Grove.
A total of seven Warriors signed scholarship offers from a variety of schools in a ceremony at the high school auditorium.
“This is a great group of guys,” said Oak Grove head coach Drew Causey. “This senior group has been special. This is a group that will be remembered here for a long time for the accomplishments they were able to make and the tradition that they were able to carry on along with the other seniors out in the audience.”
Indeed, this senior class will go down as one of the most storied in Oak Grove’s football history, having posted a four-year record of 46-10.
During that period, the Warriors played in the Class 6A South State championship game all four years, won it three times and captured the state title in 2020.
“These guys worked hard and did everything we asked of them,” Causey said. “I couldn’t be prouder of them and the legacy they leave behind. Not many schools can say they’ve done the things they’ve done.”
Signing National Letters of Intent on Wednesday were linebacker Braxton Miller (Pearl River Community College), defensive lineman Adarius Haynes (Jones College), offensive lineman Klaybron Pollard (Southern Miss), long snapper Alex Rozier (Alabama), offensive lineman McKale Boley (Virginia), quarterback Kabe Barnett (Northwest Mississippi CC) and wide receiver Tyrell Pollard (Northwest Mississippi CC).
Pollard’s signing with Southern Miss continues a family tradition, as he follows his father and older brother to the Golden Eagle family.
“As a little kid, you always think about signing a college scholarship and going pro,” Pollard said. “To actually go through it as a senior is the best feeling in the world.
“(At USM) I get to play in front of all my friends and family. My dad played and coached there, my brother played there, so to continue that legacy is very fulfilling.”
Pollard said he developed a warm relationship with Golden Eagle head coach Will Hall, who just completed his first season at USM.
“Our relationship has been really good since he offered me,” Pollard said. “I wanted to wait until now to sign, but I’m glad I did. Happy to be a Golden Eagle.
“Being here for four years, I’ve made a name for myself, now I have a chance to make another name for myself. Now it’s time to go to work.”
Lytrel Pollard was a standout linebacker for Southern Miss in the late 1990s and later served as an assistant coach at USM.
“It feels really good,” said Lytrel Pollard. “He was my last one to come through. I always wanted him to go to USM, but you have to let the kids go through the recruiting process on their own. The morning he told me. ‘Dad, I want to be an Eagle,’ I was the happiest person in the world.”
Lytrel Pollard said his son has areas where he needs to improve if he is to compete for a starting position with the Golden Eagles.
“He’s got to get used to competing every snap,” Pollard said. “He got bigger and stronger and smarter, so the high school game had gotten kind of boring to him and he’d gotten used to not going as hard every snap. So the biggest thing is he knows he’s got to play all-out every snap.”
Boley chose to go out of state to play for the Cavaliers of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
“It’s amazing,” said Boley. “It’s something I’ve dreamed of doing, and it felt great for all my family and friends to be here to support me.”
Boley said he liked everything about the Virginia program and the historic Charlottesville campus.
“That was the best option for me,” Boley said. “I went there on my (official) visit and there was nothing bad about it. I loved everything about it, the coaches, the atmosphere.”
Rozier, a 6-foot-2, 200-pounder, didn’t get much attention during his four years at Oak Grove, but his position caught the eye of recruiters, as he follows in a long line of Warrior long snappers who have gone on to excel at the next level.
“They say they don’t know you until you mess up,” said Rozier about serving as the team’s long snapper. “I kind of like that. You may not do that much on the field, but you’re just as much a part of the team.
“There’s not that much pressure on you until you mess up, and fortunately, that didn’t happen my whole four years.”
Rozier was originally a tight end in middle school and played there on occasion at the high school level, but he fell into the long snapper position when his predecessor, Kade Shannon, suffered a knee injury as a senior.
“I had been trying to long snap since late eighth grade, and I got moved up when he got hurt,” said Rozier. “We went to a (New Orleans) Saints game and that’s when we figured out what a long snapper was.
“After that, we looked it up and found out that he made $1.5 million (a year) in the NFL. So my dad was like, ‘that’s what you need to do.’”
Rozier was present in Indianapolis last month when the Crimson Tide lost in the College Football Playoff National Championship to Georgia.
“It feels amazing (to sign with Alabama),” said Rozier. “The national championship game didn’t end up how I wanted it to, but they’re a young team and I think they’ll be able to come back next year and win.”
For Causey, who completed his seventh season as the head coach at Oak Grove in November, Signing Day never gets old.
“It’s always an exciting day, not only for the kids and the school, but also for their parents,” Causey said. “They get a free education, and they get to continue to play the sport they all love. So we’re really happy for all of them.”
With Signing Day past, the focus for Causey and his staff now is on the future, where the Oak Grove underclassmen must fill some big shoes.
“They’ve accomplished a lot,” Causey said. “But, you know, the guys before them accomplished a lot, and so did the guys before them.
“There is a tradition there, and it’s something our kids grow up learning and grow up expecting. Our kids expect to play in big games, in the playoffs and to compete for state championships. None of that’s changed.”
