North Greene senior Colten Suggs has not been playing football for a long time, but ever since that first time he buckled his chin strap he has dreamed of playing at the college level.
On Tuesday with his friends and family gathered around that dream became real when he signed to join the program at Tusculum University.
“It feels great to sign today. I feel like its every kid’s dream to play at the next level and a higher level,” Suggs said. “I’m glad that I have this opportunity, and I’m grateful that I have been able to play with these guys at North Greene.”
Not only is Suggs excited that he gets to keep playing football, but the opportunity to play for the home-town school is something that he could not pass up. He is glad that he gets to stay near his friends and family, and that they can still watch him play.
“It’s great that Tusculum is close to home. I love my family and I love this area,” Suggs said “Then it’s a great campus and the coaches there are great. Coach (Billy) Taylor welcomed me with open arms and I couldn’t be happier. The program felt a lot like North Greene where it was a tight-knit family, and that is something I wanted to be a part of.”
Tusculum is headed into its third year under the leadership of coach Billy Taylor. The Pioneers are coming off of a 1-9 season in which they went 0-9 in the South Atlantic Conference.
Suggs will join the Pioneers as a defensive end, a position he has excelled at while with the Huskies. He led the team with 4.5 sacks and 6.5 tackles for loss this season while producing 32 total tackles.
“They are going to be having me play and defensive end, linebacker hybrid position,” Suggs said. “I like defense better than I like offense. Defense is simpler, you get to fly around and find the ball.”
Suggs started playing football as a sophomore and quickly found himself becoming an integral part of the lineup. He knows that he will have to get bigger, faster and stronger to succeed at the college level and he is prepared to spend much of the summer in the weight room.
“I’m going to have to live in the weight room. I know I’ll have to get a lot bigger to play at that level, but that is something that I am prepared for,” Suggs said.
Suggs plans to major in exercise science and hopes to stay involved in sports when his playing days are over.
