Hunter Richie lands fishing scholarship at SAU
Being out on a boat, enjoying life on the water and catching fish have been major parts of Hunter Richie’s life as far back as he can recall.
“I was probably in diapers (when I started) because my dad’s been taking me out on the boat since I was little,” he said. “I’ve been fishing for long as I can remember and I’ve been tournament fishing with my dad since since I was probably seven or eight (years old), so yeah, pretty much my whole life.”
Richie has plans to do bigger and better things as an angler in his future and he took the next step toward fulfilling those plans on Friday when the Gordon Lee senior signed on to hone his craft with a scholarship to Southern Arkansas University.
“It’s always been a dream,” Richie said of fishing in college. “It’s something that I’ve been working towards since I started fishing at the high school. I wasn’t sure if it was going to happen, but I’m glad it happened.”
Richie has been one of the better anglers for the Trojans in the Northwest Georgia High School Anglers Association. He and his teammate Blake Groce took third place in an association tournament on Lake Weiss in 2019 and they finished in eighth place at the 2020 NWGHSAA Classic.
“I like what (Southern Arkansas) has got going on with their program and I like the location of the school,”
and a great attitude and he always has a smile on his face.”
“No one is going to outwork him either,” Groce added. “If anybody ever says he can’t do something, Kameron is going to work his tail off to prove them wrong.”
A second team Region 6-A and Catoosa-walker Dream Team selection at
linebacker as a senior, Oliver recorded 26 tackles, 13 solo and two for loss, to go with a forced fumble and four sacks as the Trojans went 10-2 and advanced to the second round of the playoffs.
Oliver said the coaches at Tabor would like for him to add about another 15 pounds to his 190-pound frame in order to play defensive end, but Oliver said he had also talked to his future coaches about lining up at wideout.
Groce said he could
absolutely see that happening because of Oliver’s speed.
“It’s pretty special when you’ve got one of your fastest kids on the offensive line,” Groce explained. “If we timed 40-yard (dashes), like other teams do, he would probably be top three on our team. If you watched our games, you’ll notice that anytime (running backs) Cade Peterson or Nate Dunfee would get in the open field, it was almost always with Kameron out in front blocking
for them because he was the pulling king.
“Most of the stunts I ever called ( on defense) had him coming off the edge, so he’ll make a great defensive end/pass rusher in the formation that (Tabor) will be running. He was a very special outside linebacker for us.”
Oliver said he plans to study education and would like to one day become a chemistry teacher.
The Blue Jays play in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference.