Several Raptors, Eagles athletes expected to ink scholarship papers Wednesday

Updated 4:05 p.m. Tuesday
By CAROL STUART
Brentwood Home Page
Wide receiver Al Thompson thought he knew where he was playing college football back during his senior season in the fall at Brentwood Academy. But Thompson’s last-minute decision and late push by suitors illustrates just the crazy world of college football recruiting as the February national signing day approaches on Wednesday.

BA running back Radir Anoor, meanwhile, decided Tuesday to accept a scholarship offer from Tennessee Tech after missing his entire season due to summer knee surgery.

Related link: Thompson commits to Arizona State

Thompson, once headed to the Pac-12’s Arizona State, de-committed from the Sun Devils in December after former pro football coach Dennis Erickson was fired and Pitt’s Todd Graham was hired at ASU. Now Thompson suddenly has several options on the table, but they’ve been changing day by day, minute by minute.

Among the possible college choices Thompson has are Alabama-Birmingham, Western Kentucky, Tennessee-Chattanooga and perhaps the SEC’s Kentucky and another Pac-12 school UCLA. Jim L. Mora, also with pro football head coaching experience, recently was hired to coach the Bruins.

Thompson also injured his neck in the Eagles' quarterfinal playoff game, but he is now back playing basketball for Brentwood Academy, which hosts Ensworth on Tuesday night for first place in the DII-AA East/Middle Region. 

Anoor, who helped lead the Eagles to a DII state track championship last May, was expected to wait until after the spring track season began to decide on his college football future. It was possible he would have more scholarship opportunities once coaches were able to see if the sprinter is still just as speedy.

Two other BA players, offensive lineman Graham Shuler and defensive lineman Woody Baron, are expected to also sign Wednesday in a ceremony at the school. Shuler has stood fairly firm to his commitment to Stanford, while Baron appears still headed to Virginia Tech.

Ravenwood senior offensive lineman Patrick McGrath (6-foot-7, 275 pounds) will sign a grant-in-aid with Division II perennial power Henderson State University, located in Arkadelphia, Ark.

The Raptors have six other athletes signing:

* Rose Hull (Furman University) and Christie Padget (University of Memphis) in women’s soccer

* Micaela Bailey (Union University) and Jazzy Oates (Lincoln Memorial University) from the two-time state champion volleyball team

* Katie Parrott (Radford University) in women’s golf

* James Moseley (Queens University of Charlotte) in swimming

Other BA students signing national letter-of-intents on Wednesday are

* Jaclyn Heckle, Tennessee-Martin, women’s soccer

* Taylor Davis, Lee University, men’s golf

Also, BA’s Kaylor Murray is deciding between Hampton University and Norfolk State for a track scholarship, and Kaitlin Cash will sign a softball scholarship at some point.

Brentwood High School doesn't have any athletes scheduled to sign scholarship papers yet during this particular signing period.