Marquese Burnley, with mother LaTonya Burnley and James Clemens head football coach Wade Waldrop, at Burnley’s signing ceremony May 11. (Record Photo/Nick Sellers)

By Nick Sellers | Staff Writer

MADISON – Even on the last regular week of the 2014-15 school year, student-athletes from James Clemens High School were signing athletic scholarships to colleges. Senior Marquese Burnley helped the school bookend a full regimen of signings from the school’s first full senior class.

Burnley signed May 11 with Kansas’ Bethel College. Burnley said the coaches discussed his contributing as a third-down back in the early goings of his college career.

“They told me that any spot is open for the taking, too, so I’m just going to go and do my best,” Burnley said.

With his mother, LaTonya Burnley and his now-former football coach Wade Waldrop by his side, Burnley thanked his coaches and teammates who’ve helped him get his scholarship.

“I really loved the campus and the atmosphere at Bethel,” Burnley said after the ceremony.

Burnley also played baseball in high school, but stuck with football his senior year and it paid off. As Waldrop noted at the signing, Burnley is a member of the school’s first full senior class that “laid the foundation” for the current state of the program.

“I’m just very proud of him, and very thankful for all the coaches that have helped him so far,” LaTonya said.

Bethel College’s football team, known as the Threshers, competes in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Morris Lolar is the school’s head football coach. The school held its first ever NFL Pro Day this spring.