Rome grad Sykes transfers to Owls
Kennesaw State completed its signing class by bringing in three players on the offensive side of the ball.
After signing 15 players during December’s early signing day, the Owls inked three more Wednesday — wide receiver Xavier Hill and running backs Kemari Mcgowan and Jalynn Sykes.
“After the early signing period, the mid-year enrollees and the kids we signed today, we have 18 kids coming to campus,” Kennesaw State coach Brian Bohannon said in a release. “This is the best class we have had since we have been here, and the camaraderie among this class is also probably the best we have had. We have touched nearly every position on our football team and we have continued to build the lines of scrimmage, which is always going to be an emphasis for us. I am really excited about this group and what they are going to bring to our program.”
Sykes, who played at Rome High School, is a transfer from Marshall. The 5-foot11, 210-pound back ran for 2,088 yards and 30 touchdowns over his last two seasons at Rome and was considered a three-star prospect coming out of high school.
Sykes did not see the field in three semesters at Marshall. During his initial recruitment, he also had offers from Arkansas, Boston College, Georgia Tech, Minnesota, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Missouri, Purdue, Rutgers and Tennessee, among others.
Hill is a 6-foot-2, 190-pound wideout is a three-star prospect who helped Alabama’s Pleasant Grove High School advance to the Class 5A state championship game. Over his last two seasons, he caught 77 passes for 1,663 yards and 21 touchdowns.
Hill also proved to be good on the track, where he ran the 100-meter dash in 10.93 seconds. He also had offers from Iowa, West Virginia, Kansas, Nebraska, Troy, Appalachian State, Southern Miss and UAB.
Mcgowan, a 5-10, 180-pound running back from Middle Tennessee Christian School in Murfreesboro, is second all-time in the Tennessee state history with 8,043 all-purpose yards, including 7,243 career rushing yards. He had 2,369 yards as a senior and scored 86 touchdowns over the course of his career.
Mcgowan won his state’s 2019 Mr. Football Award, given out by the NFL’S Tennessee Titans.
“They are dynamic playermakers,” Bohannon said about the signing class in a video posted to the Kennesaw State athletic website. “You turn their tape on, you start with Kamari. Every time he touches the ball, he ends up in the end zone. Xavier is no different. He’s a tall, really lengthy young man. We had a heck of a young man who played here who’s now in the Canadian league, Justin Sumpter, and we talked to (Hill) about that, about him being in that go-to slot.”
Kennesaw State’s now completed signing class includes 10 players on offense — three linemen, three running backs, two wide receivers and two quarterbacks. The Owls added seven on defense — four linemen, two defensive backs and a linebacker — and one special teams player via Bremen kicker Evan Fuller.