GRAHAM AND BELL COMMIT TO SHASTA
A pair of standout Logger football players are headed to headed to Shasta.
Eureka High seniors Josiah Graham and Antorious Bell recently announced having committed to play football at Shasta College.
For Graham, the opportunity to play college football is one he didn’t think he’d have not too long ago.
“Entering my junior year, I can’t say I thought I would have this opportunity,” Graham said. “The big thing for me that off-season was spending a lot of time with (quarterback Cruz Montana), we would throw a lot and he pushed me every day. Mo Purify too, he was my receiving coach and worked a lot with me on my game. Everyone, all the older guys on that 2018 team pushed me to be better. That season was a blessing and it made me want to keep going and play in college.”
As a junior Graham, a receiver, caught 28 balls on Eureka’s 2018 team which advanced to a NorCal Regional state playoff game which it lost to the eventual state champions, Menlo-Atherton 27-20. The 2018 team won its first 12 games and averaged 41 points-per-game.
Graham led Eureka with 663 receiving yards and five touchdown receptions in 2019, playing all 10 games and remaining a productive and tough-nosed fixture on a 3-7 Loggers teams marred by injury.
For Bell, the opportunity to play along side Graham at Shasta means more than what the two hope to accomplish on the field.
“We had been talking about playing together for a while,” Bell said. “I told him I would go wherever he
went. (Graham) helped me a lot, especially my senior year. Whenever I didn’t know a play he would help me on the spot. That’s a big deal, to have something
you know has you back when you leave home.”
Bell. a receiver/running back who said he looks to do a bit of both at Shasta, rushed for 337 yards and three touchdowns in 2019.
The two said Shasta’s pass-friendly offense, which averaged just under
200 yards-per-game through the air in 2019 and saw 11 different receivers record a catch, was a big draw.
“The coaches at Shasta have a similar mentality to our coaches at Eureka,” Graham said.
Shasta posted a 7-4 overall record in 2019.