Russellville trio signs
Russellville's Darrian Graham, Brent Calloway and Robert Terrell are surrounded by coaches as they sign national letters of intent Wednesday. | Scot Beard/FCT
The circus surrounding the recruitment of Russellville’s Brent Calloway ended Wednesday when he signed to play collegiate football at the University of Alabama.
“It feels great,” Calloway said. “This has been a long process and it has put a lot of weight on me and my family and I’m glad it’s over with.”
He had been a strong verbal commitment to the Crimson Tide since the summer before his junior year at Russellville. Calloway became one of the state’s most talked about recruits in recent weeks when he changed his commitment from Alabama to Auburn at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl.
“Alabama was my home place. I’ve been there for 2.5 years and it was a great time I had there,” Calloway said. “Then I switched and it was like ‘okay, this is what I want’. But then it was not what I wanted when I went back to Alabama.”
Following Calloway’s switch to Auburn, he was the subject of scrutiny on recruiting message boards and social media networks.
Alabama’s 2011 recruiting class is ranked third in the nation according to ESPN and Rivals.com and is seventh according to Scout.com.
While Calloway was the focus of the signing at the Russellville Field House, two other Golden Tigers signed their national letters of intent to play collegiate football.
Darrian Graham signed with Alabama A&M and Robert Terrell signed with South Alabama.
Graham had been a strong verbal commitment to Memphis and Terrell was a strong verbal commitment to Louisville before they signed.
“Memphis wanted me to play linebacker, but I’m a safety kind of guy,” Graham said. “I wouldn’t have played much at linebacker, but at A&M I could start right off the bat.”
Terrell said he chose South Alabama because of its proximity and the ability to help build the program. South Alabama began playing football in 2009 and will become a NCAA Football Championship Subdivision program in 2011 and a Football Bowl Subdivision program in 2013.
“It feels good to be part of something that can be great,” Terrell said. “I want to be a trendsetter.”
Russellville coach Doug Goodwin said he is happy these players are able to continue their playing careers.
“Darrian has a lot of upside. He runs well, has great hands and is intelligent. A&M got a steal,” Goodwin said. “Robert is a great kid and one of the most polite kids I’ve ever coached. He can help on both sides of the ball.
“As far as Brent goes, everybody knows what kind of talent he’s got.”
