Newton County on had one player selected to The Newton County Appeal’s Elite 11 team.
And Lamar Morgan was the only player on the team to sign to play football at the next level.
Morgan, a 6-foot-5, 280-pound tight end, signed his national letter of intent form to play football at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College.
It’s been a whirlwind year for Morgan, who moved to Mississippi from Michigan and played only one year of football in the state.
Morgan started the season playing both sides of the football but setting in at tight end for the Cougars and became one of their biggest receiving threats. Morgan finished the year with 15 catches for 253 yards, which was second on the team.
Morgan chose Gulf Coast partly for athletics and partly for football. Gulf Coast touts a 100 percent graduation rate among its football team and Morgan said his goal is to graduate in three semesters so he transfers to a Division I school in December of his sophomore year.
“I want to graduate in three semesters,” Morgan said. “I want to play football at the next level. I would love to play at Michigan but honestly, anywhere I can go that would get me to the next level would be OK with me.”
Because of his limited time in state, Morgan was not heavily recruited. He did receive an offer from East Central but wanted to venture a little further away from home.
“East Central is five minutes away from home and that would be great,” Morgan said. “At Gulf Coast, I get to get away from home and experience some new things. I felt like the football program at Mississippi Gulf Coast could do me a lot of justice.”
