Area players take next step on signing day
By FRANK JOLLEY
Sports Editor
CLERMONT -- Jeremy Wright and Frankie Davis consider themselves poster children for the East Ridge High School football team.
The pair joined the Knights without fanfare, but with seemingly
unlimited potential and in search of direction that could help them
harness their talents.
Wright and Davis found that direction in coach Bud O'Hara, who has spent
most of the past 37 years driving his student-athletes to succeed.
Since arriving at East Ridge seven seasons ago, O'Hara's program has
been the starting point for countless college careers.
Former East Ridge standout Richard Jackson, who signed originally with
Notre Dame, but has since transferred to the University of Central
Florida, is one of O'Hara's success stories. Other former Knights who
have earned athletic scholarships include: Chimdi Chekwa (Ohio State),
Chris Patrick (Charleston Southern) Greg Lloyd (Connecticut), and
Harland Bower (signed with Central Michigan before transferring to
Georgia Southern).
Wright and Davis joined that group Wednesday when the signed national
letters of intent during a ceremony in the school auditorium as part of
National Signing Day, the first high-school football players can sign
with the college of their choice.
Wright inked an agreement with the University of Louisville, while Davis
opted to stay closer to his family and signed with UCF. Both accepted
full scholarship offers with their schools, meaning all tuition, books,
room and board will be provided.
Other local student-athletes to sign Wednesday include Leesburg's Darius
Lightfoot, who signed with Murray State in Murray, Ky., and Eric
Samuels, who signed with Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tenn. South Lake
offensive lineman Jonotthan Harrison and running back Titus Mobley
signed with Florida and Wesson (Miss.) Copiah-Lincoln Community College.
Harrison and Mobley graduated from South Lake in January and are
enrolled in college and attending classes. By enrolling in January, they
will be eligible to participate in spring practice.
No other signings were reported to The Daily Commercial in time for this edition.
Wright considered "about 20 schools" before deciding on Louisville after
making an official visit to the campus Jan. 23. He visited Florida
International University and Troy (Ala.) University prior to Louisville.
"I like everything about Louisville when I got there," Wright said. "The
campus was nice and I really clicked with the coach (Steve Kragthorpe).
The players I spent time with were really great to be around and the
academic-support system for student-athletes is fantastic.
"It didn't take long for me to realize that Louisville is where I wanted
to go to college and I committed as soon as I got home."
Wright also said Louisville has an established Fellowship of Christian
Athletes Chapter at the school and that, too, play a role in his
decision.
One of two running backs signed by Louisville, Wright led the state in
rushing as a senior with more than 2,700 yards. He posted a single-game
best of 491 yards against Apopka Wekiva -- the second best effort in
state history.
For his career, Wright had 4,133 yards and 43 touchdowns.
Wright said Kragthorpe made no guarantees to him about playing time
during the recruiting process. Rather than being goaded into signing
with a guaranteed job, Wright said he prefers to go into his freshman
season with the intent to earn playing time -- a trait he said was
taught by O'Hara.
"One of the reasons East Ridge has been successful on the football field
is because of the way (O'Hara) and the coaching staff treats the
players," Wright said. "Nobody is given a job when they walk onto the
field. You have to work hard in the weight room and on the practice
field. That's the way it has always been at East Ridge. Coach O'Hara and
his staff do not play favorites. They don't care if you have all the
talent in the world; if you don't pay the price during the week, you
don't play on Friday.
"Coach O'Hara teaches us that you have to work hard to be the best. I'm
signing a college scholarship because Coach O'Hara demanded my best
effort."
O'Hara said it usually wasn't hard to get Wright to produce. He
considers the running back to be the best player he has coached and
believes Louisville is getting one of the state's best players.
He is surprised Wright wasn't more heavily recruited, but feels his
former running back may use the snub as motivation throughout his
college career.
"I don't why every school in the state or the country wasn't looking at
Jeremy," O'Hara said. "He's got good size (188 pounds) and he's going to
get a little bigger in college, and he was rarely run down from behind
in the open field. He fumbled one time all season as our feature back.
"About 20 years ago, Emmitt Smith was thought to be too small and too
slow to succeed in college and as pro, but he put together a pretty nice
career at both levels."
Davis, a 6-foot-2, 285-pound defensive lineman, considered several
schools before deciding on UCF in December. He chose to play for UCF
coach George O'Leary because he wanted to be closer to his family so
that they could watch him play.
Prior to deciding on UCF, Davis had considered West Virginia,
Mississippi, Colorado State, Iowa State, Wisconsin, Auburn and Purdue.
"Not only will I be closer to home at UCF, but I think I'll get a chance
to step in and play earlier than I would have at some of the other
schools I was considering," Davis said. "UCF is an up-and-coming program
and I wanted to play a part in helping them become one of the best
teams in the country. I had the chance to look at some of the top
programs in the nation, but UCF came out on top when I sat down and
thought about where I wanted to go."
Like Wright, Davis feels O'Hara and the East Ridge coaching staff
deserve much of the credit for his success. Davis said he has "grown
mentally and become tougher" under O'Hara's tutelage.
He said O'Hara taught him to never give up or quit, no matter what the
situation is, and also provided him with a father figure to whom he
could confide. The lessons Davis learned while wearing an East Ridge
uniform will help him at UCF, in the classroom and on the football
field.
Without O'Hara's "football is family" approach, Davis isn't sure where he would be, but said he knows where he wouldn't be.
"I would not have earned a college scholarship without coach O'Hara,"
Davis said. "If you come to East Ridge and spend time around coach
O'Hara and the coaching staff, you can't help but be person. They're
trying to turn us into responsible adults. They understand there's more
to life than football. They want us to be great people.
"Part of being a great person is getting into college and making
something out of myself. That's what every football at East Ridge wants
to do."
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