VHS star Anderson passes up D-I offers to play at Jones Junior College

Published 8:00 am Sunday, February 11, 2018

As late as Wednesday morning, on national signing day, Nick Anderson wasn’t sure about his college choice.

The Vicksburg High linebacker and two-time Vicksburg Post Defensive Player of the Year had narrowed his list to five — three four-year schools and two junior colleges — but wasn’t quite comfortable with any of them.

“I went to sleep at, like, 3 o’clock that morning. I said to God, ‘Can you send me a sign or a dream? I’m fixing to make the biggest decision of my life.’ And he wasn’t talking to me,” Anderson said.

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Anderson missed a signing ceremony Wednesday morning at VHS while he prayed and pondered his decision, but by the afternoon he finally settled on the one that made the most sense. The one that had been there all along.

Jones County Junior College.

Anderson turned down three Division I offers from Football Championship Subdivision programs Alcorn State, Central Arkansas and Prairie View A&M to go the junior college route, in the hopes and anticipation he’ll be able to refine his game and land some bigger offers next December.

“I had interest from FBS schools in December, but they started to pull back because they were filling up after the early signing period. So I had a couple of FCS offers and took my visits,” Anderson said. “I was talking to my coaches and family, and felt like if I go to a junior college then those offers will still be there. My goal is to play in an FBS or Power 5, so if I go to a junior college and see what I get and can go back to the FCS.”

Besides making sense from a strategic standpoint, Anderson said Jones County was the one school out of his five that seemed to go above and beyond in its recruiting process. He said East Mississippi Community College felt a little cold and impersonal, and he never got to take a campus visit to Alcorn State.

Jones’ coaches, meanwhile, came to him en masse.

“(Head) Coach (Steve) Buckley and I have a great relationship. Twice, he brought the whole coaching staff to my house. He did a great job recruiting me. He showed me a lot of love,” Anderson said.

Jones’ coaches also worked a side job to recruit Anderson. On the night assistant coach and Vicksburg native Dwike Wilson was scheduled for a home visit, Anderson had to go to work at his part-time job at Kroger. Wilson visited Anderson there instead and helped the recruit wrangle carts in a rainy parking lot.

“It was late at night on a school night, and they were out there helping me push buggies. And it was raining,” Anderson said with a chuckle. “He was supposed to come to a home visit and I told him I was working. He came by and I was outside in the rain pushing bags and he said, ‘I’ll help you.’”

The steady interest and attention from Jones’ coaches paid off. Anderson waited until February to sign, skipping the early period in December, to see if any bigger schools came calling. They didn’t, and he said everything else seemed to be steering him toward Jones as well.

“I told them if I didn’t get the D-I offer that I wanted, I was coming, and they stuck with me until the end,” Anderson said. “It was frustrating. Some nights I wanted to pull my hair out. Me and my mom were arguing all the time because I wanted help and she told me I had to make my own decision. I just talked to God. He closed some doors, and I felt like he closed them for the best. But the one that stayed open most consistently was Jones. Every time I tried to sway from Jones, he just kept it in my heart.”

While Jones County is in his immediate future, Anderson said it’s also a gamble for the long term. The offer he coveted most but didn’t receive was from Southern Miss and head coach Jay Hopson, a Vicksburg native. Anderson is hopeful that the proximity of Ellisville and Hattiesburg, and the chance to showcase his skills in a competitive MACJC league next season, can draw Hopson’s attention.

“Now that I’m at Jones, maybe they’ll come by,” Anderson said.

About Ernest Bowker

Ernest Bowker is The Vicksburg Post's sports editor. He has been a member of The Vicksburg Post's sports staff since 1998, making him one of the longest-tenured reporters in the paper's 140-year history. The New Jersey native is a graduate of LSU. In his career, he has won more than 50 awards from the Mississippi Press Association and Associated Press for his coverage of local sports in Vicksburg.

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