W.S. Neal senior baseball player Reid Johnson signed a baseball scholarship with Jefferson Davis Community College Monday at the school library.
Joined by his parents, Mike and Betty Johnson, JDCC head coach Darrell Blevins and assistant Adam Reed, W.S. Neal head coach Coy Campbell and other family and friends, Johnson signed his name on the line to join the Warhawks this fall.
“It feels good to sign with JDCC and go ahead and get it out of the way before the season starts,” Johnson said. “JDCC is close to home and they were able to give me a full scholarship and I like the coaches and it is a nice place to play.”
As a junior last year, Johnson helped lead the Eagles to a 21-8 record last year and win the area championship. The Eagles advanced to the playoffs before falling in the first round to eventual state champion UMS-Wright. This year, Johnson expects things to be different.
“I expect us to go deep in the playoffs and play hard and contend with everybody,” Johnson said.
Eagle head coach Coy Campbell said JDCC is getting a good player in Johnson.
“Reid has been a great player in our program,” he said. “He has been playing with us since eighth grade and I just credit to coach Blevins for being able to sign him today. He is a good player and he is a hometown player. So he should get a lot of support from around here. I know I will be there to support him.”
Blevins also spoke highly of Johnson.
“We had the opportunity to see him play several times last season as a junior and we were very intrigued when we got to see him,” Blevins said. “He has tremendous athletic ability and he is just already country strong. Once we started checking into everything, not only into his grades and his attitude and character, it matched up with what we try to get.”
Blevins said in addition to seeing Johnson play in several games last spring, he was able to workout with the Warhawks two or three different times.
“We moved him around to shortstop, second and third and let him hit with us and after all that, it was obvious he was going to be able to play at our level,” Blevins said. “Right now, I know he is playing short for W.S. Neal, we do think he is versatile.”
Blevins said right now, he has four freshman middle infielders but possibly Johnson could work his way into playing for JDCC next spring.
“We worked him at third and he has the range and arm strength to make a lot of plays,” he said. “Right now, we anticipate to move him to third, but that will all come around in the fall. Who knows, he might be able to step in at shortstop. We will lose our sophomore third baseman next year so we can fill that with him. Reid is already showing some power and we are expecting that to increase when he gets to our level. I think he will be a good fit and will step in immediately and at least push for playing time. I think he is just an all around good fit so far.”
Johnson and the W.S. Neal Eagles will begin their season Monday, Feb. 20 in the Excel Classic.