Southfield High School made school history today with 20 athletes signing letters of intent to play college sports. Nineteen football players signed and one volleyball player.

Katherine Nealy was the lone female to sign and the only athlete signing for a sport other than football. The 6 foot 3 inch athlete signed a letter of intent to play volleyball for the University of Michigan-Dearborn.

Nealy’s mother, Belinda Nealy, said, “It’s really exciting to see all the hard work have an end result, which is playing at the college level.”

Six football players signed with Division 1 schools, as they look to further their football careers and possibly make a living playing football.

The most celebrated signing was Marques Grimes, who will be playing at Ohio University without a dime coming out of his pocket. He said, “It just took a lot of hard work. When obstacles were put in front of me, I had to work. No partying, no sleep. All I knew was football, and that’s how I got here today.”

Makene  Culpepper took all Saturday to make his decision. “My education and the program I want to go into come first.” He decided to attend Alabama A & M.

The other Division 1 signees were Dior Johnson and Ray Buford, who both signed with University of Minnesota, Charles Harris (University at Buffalo), Davonte Ginwright (Western Michigan) and Adrian Carter (Ferris State University).

Principal Michael Horn said, “This is a (football) program with high standards. Last year 18, this year 20. For next year we already have schools talking to our kids.”

Horn wasn’t done there. “This team has been selected as an all-state academic football team. The major thing is student-athlete, and we are pretty good at the student part and also good at the athlete part.”

The team didn’t come onto success over night. Head Coach Tim Conley had the team on academics all year.  The team had an ACT tutor from the University of Michigan to work with athletes such as Kanye Harris, who signed with Northwood University.

Coach Conley said, “This year these players are more mature and more focused.  With this world we live in today, with social media, they have gotten a lot of attention but manage to stay together and work together as a team. It was great to be a part of.”

Though 19 football players signed,  others had offers but chose not to sign. Senior Kris Magnum turned down several offers to play college football.  He chose to hang up his cleats to be a student at Bowling Green State University, in Ohio.

Besides Magnum, senior Garrick “Ricky” Foxhall elected to be a preferred walk-on for North Carolina A&T, a Division 1 school, rather than settle for a partial scholarship with a Division 2 school. Foxhall said, “It makes the most sense to go to a better school for me and earn my scholarship than go to a school I only know because they want me to play for them.”

WHO SIGNED WHERE

Katherine “Kat” Nealy signed to play volleyball for The University of Michigan – Dearborn.

The other 19 signees were all football players:

Raymond Buford – University of Minnesota

Filmel “Dior” Johnson – University of Minnesota

Charles Harris – University at Buffalo

Davontae Ginwright – Western Michigan University

Marques Grimes – Ohio University

Makene Culpepper – Alabama A&M

Adrian Carter – Ferris State University

Keith Dewberry – Lake Erie College

Kanye Harris – Northwood University

Calvin Graves – Grand Valley State University

Aaron Turner – Grand Valley State University

Aaron Cooper – Grand Valley State University

Jeremy Gates – Saginaw Valley State University

Amani Davis – Malone University

Devin Davis – Urbana University

Anthony Springer – Tiffin University

Christian Daniels – Olivet College

Josh Stovall – Siena Heights University

Ja’Mar Antwine – Atlanta Sports Academy

See photos of Signing Day