Embarking on a new journey
North Point’s Wilson signs with Old Dominion, McMillan with Fairmont State
Sitting next to Malachi McMillan in the North Point High School gymnasium surrounded by family, friends and school administrators, Keisean Wilson reminisced a bit about how the two became close over the last few years, the strides they’ve made in the Eagles’ football program and conversations about playing at the next level.
The pair, who capped their high school football careers by leading the program to its second straight Southern Maryland Athletic Conference Potomac Division title and a Class 4A East Region playoff berth, will have even future things to reminisce about as they officially inked their national letters of intent to play college football on Wednesday morning, part of National Signing Day.
Wilson signed to play at NCAA Division I’s Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va., while McMillan will be headed to Division II outfit Fairmont State University in Fairmont, W.Va.
“More than anything they are both good football players and they are good students in the classroom and those two things are highly important,” North Point head football coach Tom Petre said. “They are good kids and they come from good families. I’ve known them since they were in middle school and from a football standpoint we are going to miss them next year.”
Wilson, a 6-foot-2, 230-pound All-SMAC and All-County linebacker, had Division I offers from
Indiana, Syracuse, Temple, Appa- lachian State, U.S. Naval Academy and U.S. Air Force Academy, but stayed with his decision of going to Old Dominion, where he committed to heading into his senior season.
Old Dominion, which competes in Conference USA, is coming off of a 10-3 season and the program’s first bowl game and victory, a 24-20 win over Eastern Michigan in the Popey- es Bahamas Bowl. The Monarchs, one of 26 FBS programs to reach the 10-win plateau, finished the season ranked in the top-10 in the country in six statistical categories.
“It feels great. This gives me a chance to get four more years of education for free,” Wilson said. “I have the opportunity to play the game I love, which is football and prepare myself for life after football. I’ve known Malachi since the end of my sophomore year and it is great to be able to us come this far. It has been a long road.”
Old Dominion defensive coordi- nator Rich Nagy and running backs coach Charles Bankins visited Wil- son at North Point on Jan. 26. Wilson then took his official visit over the weekend and, according to his Twitter account, stated, “Enjoyed my official visit, feels like home al- ready!”
Wilson, who was a three-year starter at North Point, collected 215 total tackles, 70 solo, with 12 sacks for his career. He had 85 tackles in his senior season.
“Throughout this recruiting process, they were the most genuine team and the coaches care about their recruits athletically and aca- demically,” said Wilson, who will major in engineering. “I really enjoyed my time on the [official] visit [Jan. 21 and 22]. It was a great envi- ronment and a great fit.”
McMillan, who was a dynamic athlete player in all three phases for North Point in his senior season with six total touchdowns, coming on offense and special teams, with two interceptions in the secondary.
The Eagles wide receiver and defensive back received offers Central Connecticut, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Shepherd University (W.Va.).
“It was a sign of relief for me to sign to play football and get an education,” said McMillan, who was a All-SMAC and All-County selection last fall. “Leading up signing day I was little nervous, but excited at the same time.”
Fairmont State, a member of the Mountain East Conference, ended last fall with a 10-2 overall record and its first-ever berth in the NCAA D-II Playoffs.
Westlake’s Opiyo, Greer sign
Over at Westlake, Malik Opiyo and Diondre Greer each signed their national letter of intent Wednesday.
Opiyo, a strong safety and slotback, is headed to Alderson Broaddus University in West Virginia, while Greer, a defensive end, is en route to Saint Francis University in Pennsylvania.
Westlake is planning a ceremony to honor their commitments at a later date.