Caden Baugh has been a decorated athlete at Greeneville High School. A Class 4A Mr. Football winner (2025), a TSWA All-State selection (2025), a Region 1-4A Player of the Year (2025), and a Region 1-4A Offensive Player of the Year (2024). Baugh finished 22-4 as a starting quarterback and was 24 yards short of reaching the 7,000-yard mark for a career.
As decorated and successful as Baugh has been wearing a Greeneville uniform, Wednesday was one of the, if not, most special days in his career as he put ink to paper and signed his letter of intent to continue his football career at Virginia Military Institute.
“It feels great. I grew up wanting to play college football and to play at Greeneville High School and to be able to get those accomplishments is nice,” Baugh explained. “To be able to come in here and work every day as a Greene Devil it’s been a blessing and I cherish every moment.”
To play football at the collegiate level is special no matter what level. But to play D1 is the ultimate goal. Caden explained his childhood dreams of growing up to play D1 football like his favorite players he would watch every Saturday every fall.
“It’s really cool. When you grow up watching football what do you watch? I grew up watching Marcus Mariota, Johnny Manziel, those type of dudes. Just to be able to say that you’re on that level is awesome and a childhood dream,” Baugh explained.
VMI is located in Lexington, VA and is a part of the Southern Conference (SoCon). The Keydets finished the 2025 season 1-11 (0-8). On December, 30th Ashley Ingram was announced as the 34th head coach in program history. Ingram was previously at Carson-Newman for the past two seasons.
Coach Ingram was the driving force in Caden’s decision to join VMI’s program. “Really it was Coach Ingram. I like Coach Ingram a lot. He recruited me at Carson-Newman and went to VMI. I fell in love with Coach Ingram early. The place is nice. It’s a small community. It’s a great fan base. It’s a fun place to be,” Caden mentioned.
To display Caden’s character and selflessness, he explained that the opportunity to sign alongside teammates Colton Smith, Bishop Merriweather, Zorian Harris, and Laith Ivy is more meaningful than the awards he has racked up in his career. He said, “To be able to sign with my teammates is the biggest thing. We’re all going to the next level and that was our goal since day one. To play together for four years and to continue for four more years is such a blessing.”
Baugh is one of only five Greene Devils to be named Mr. Football. He finished his career fourth in single-season passing yards and tied with his father, Cody Baugh, for third in single-season touchdown passes. Baugh finished third in total career touchdown passes and holds the program record for longest passing touchdown with a 96-yard strike to Taren Claridy in week one vs. Morristown West.
He finishes his career with 4,453 passing yards going 227-for-311 (73%) with 57 passing touchdowns. Baugh amassed 2,523 rushing yards on 311 rushes and 38 touchdowns. His career numbers total to 6,976 total yards and 95 total touchdowns.
Baugh will major in biology with a plan to become a dentist after graduation.
VMI is different than the Military service academies in that students do not have to enlist in the armed forces after graduation. All students must participate the ROTC program while enrolled. But being an outstanding leader, Baugh still plans to serve after graduation.
Baugh explained VMI’s requirements and his career path. “You have to do military stuff while you’re in school for your four years, but after you do not have to enlist or commission, but I am choosing to. I’m going to commission so I’ll be a captain of my own platoon and stuff like that and they’ll pay for my dental school while I’m serving.”
