Athletic Scholarships Recap 2023-2024
The 2023-2024 school year was filled with outstanding award-winning efforts including Braden Booth of Bob Jones being named Mr. Baseball by the Alabama Sports Writers Association and signed to play baseball for the Mississippi State Bulldogs. Madison Academy football player Reese Baker took his talents to Tulane University where the huge offensive lineman is expected to excel. Auburn University picked up two outstanding young men from James Clemens as Luke Davenport signed with the Tigers to play baseball and Cade McComb, a two-sport athlete, signed with the Tigers’ swimming program. Sparkman High athletes earned $2,435,500 in academic and athletic scholarships and included athletes in a bevy of sports including cheerleading with Madison Fletcher signing with UAB.
Bob Jones
At Bob Jones, Braden Booth has left a legacy that will be hard to top after being named Mr. Baseball, the first in the school’s history. He was also named the Gatorade Player of the Year as an outstanding pitcher and hitter and had a 3.7 grade point average while helping the Patriots to a Class 7A State Championship. Jordan Urrutia also exited the school leaving a legacy as the multi-champion track star and signed with Ole Miss. Urrutia was named an Adidas All-American had a 3.9 grade point average and scored a 31 on his ACT. He’s one of the best sprinters in the country. Samantha Chan signed to swim for Georgia Tech after assisting her swim team to two consecutive State Championships. She posted a marvelous 5.3 grade point average placing her third among the senior class. Overall, the school earned $37-million in scholarship money with 67-percent of the students having received a scholarship.
Here the signees from Bob Jones for the 2023-2024 school year: Samantha Chan (swimming) Georgia Tech, Ebba Detulleo (soccer) Union College, Peyton Free (soccer) Georgia Southern, Morgan Dunham (soccer) Alabama State, Peyton Brady (swimming) Milligan University, Michael Tretyakov (swimming) Florida Southern, Natalia Kenyatta (softball) Michigan State, Charlotte Herron (softball) Western Kentucky, A.J. Vineski (softball) Northwest Florida, Meg Jarrett (volleyball) UAB, Eliza Tyrell (volleyball) Montevallo, Rachel Mecklenburg (volleyball) Wallace State, Janiyah Bone (basketball) Shelton State, Alana Obianozie (basketball) Shelton State, Jordyn Fields (basketball) Bishop State, Zamyra Goode (basketball) Calhoun, Anthony Charbonnet (soccer) Millsaps College, Myles Cook (football) UAB, Brandon White (football) Alabama A&M, Christian Abrams (football) Tuskegee, Hezron Kincey (football) Kentucky Wesleyan, Frankie Hill (football) Bellarmine University, Tyren Washington (football) Tenn Valley Prep, Dylan Willingham (football) Tenn Valley Prep, Corbin Martin (football) Tenn Valley Prep, Braden Booth (baseball) Mississippi State, Jacob Pearl (baseball) Montevallo, Gresham Baker (baseball) Bevill State, Parker Free (tennis) Samford, Jolissa Coe (track) Alabama.
James Clemens
The outstanding year of athletics at James Clemens featured four student-athletes signing with major power-five schools including two with Auburn University. Jared Smid signed to play soccer at Michigan State while Jaylen Brown, a First-Team All-State selection and Huntsville Quarterback Club Defensive Player of the Year, signed with Missouri of the Southeastern Conference. The 6-foot-6, 242-pound defensive end had 55 tackles, including 10 for loss, in his senior season with the Jets. His defensive end co-hart, Nate Jennings (6-5, 250) signed to play for South Alabama. He had 53 tackles on the season with 26 solo stops and 11 tackles for loss.
The Auburn signees were baseball player Luke Davenport and swimmer/baseball player Cade McComb. Davenport (6-3, 185) was one of two main hurlers for the Jets. The righthander was 8-3 on the year with an impressive 1.08 ERA. Meanwhile, McComb also played baseball for the Jets, but he was also one of the brightest swimmers in the state and will swim the 50 and 100 freestyle events for the Tigers.
Here are the signees from James Clemens during the 2023-2024 school year: Cole Robinson (cross country/track) UAH, Dylan Dryer (cross country/track) UAH, Austin Abney (track) Montevallo, Ben Thomason (track) Samford, John Luke Stovall (track) South Alabama, Shaylin McFarland (soccer) Huntington, Jared Smid (soccer) Michigan State, Francisco Ramirez (baseball) Marion Military Institute, Hayden Markfort (baseball) Marion Military Institute, David Sharp (baseball) Calhoun, Carson Loosier (baseball) Calhoun, Satchel Wheeler (baseball) Snead St., Mason Bush (baseball) Snead St., Luke Davenport (baseball) Auburn, John Thomas Johnson (baseball) Snead St., Gabrielle Stigger (basketball) Calhoun, Hunter Headley (football) Campbellsville, Jaylen Brown (football) Missouri, Nate Jennings (football) South Alabama, Marc Woods (football) Jacksonville State, Jaylon Ruffin (football) Miles College, DJ Williams (football) Andrew College, Logan Eggert (football) SE Missouri St., Devon Cooper (football) Tuskegee, Brody Stinson (football) Thomas University, Kaylee Tucker (cheerleading) Troy, Sydney Snodgrass (cheerleading) West Georgia, Cade McComb (swimming) Auburn.
Sparkman
The Senators had a group of talented student-athletes sign scholarships including girls wrestling as Khloe Robb signed to continue mat action with Misericordia University. Longtime Sparkman competitor Samantha Menikheim concluded her running years with the Senators by signing with South Alabama to run in college and five members of the softball team chose to extend their playing time in college by signing scholarships.
Here are the signees from Sparkman during the 2023-2024 school year: Imani Hamilton (soccer) Troy, Sofia Sasan (soccer) Troy, Chelsey Curtis (soccer) UAH, Ryan Everly (baseball) Wallace State, Wyatt Shears (baseball) West Virginia St., Israel Parker (baseball) Arkansas St., Abethany James (basketball) Shelton St., Jamya Griffin (basketball) Nicholls St., Laryn Scott (basketball) Nicholls St., Jemihya Carter (basketball) LeMoyne-Owen College, Brynlee Silletti (softball) Snead St., Leah Haynes (softball) Calhoun, Fiona East (softball) NW Shoals, Kailey Hardin (softball) Alabama A&M, Kaitlyn Fletcher (softball) Tuskegee, Samantha Menikheim (cross country/track) South Alabama, Nicola Peters (track) Jacksonville State, Jay Hunt (cross country) Freed-Hardeman, Jenna Duncan Wade (cross country/track) Montevallo, Jayden Lamar (football) Miles College, Jalyn Chambers (football) Miles College, Sir John Draper (football) NE Mississippi, Kirkland Whittle (football) Allen University, Christian Burrus (football) Coffeyville C.C., Khloe Robb (wrestling) Misericordia University, Madison Fletcher (cheerleading) UAB.
Madison Academy
Seven players off Madison Academy’s state runner-up football team signed college scholarships to sweeten what was a sour ending to a spectacular 2023 football season for the Mustangs. Racing their way through a superb season, the Mustangs were derailed 55-28 by Mobile Christian in the Class 3A State Championship Game thus closing out a season which ended in a spoiled fashion. Three of the signees were First-Team All-State selections and included running back Ken Cherry, who ran for 2,836 yards and 44 touchdowns, Reese Baker, a 6-4, 280-pound offensive lineman, and Jackson Reece who recorded 87 pass receptions for 1,383 yards and 12 touchdowns.
Here are the signees from Madison Academy during the 2023-2024 school year: Sam Hall (cross country) Calhoun, Jaedyn Martin (tennis) Wallace State, Brandon Tanner (football) Alabama State, Jackson Reece (track) UAH, Jake Poldiak (football) Ave Maria University, Khamoni Merrell (football) Miles College, Tyler Long (football) Kentucky Wesleyan, Ken Cherry (football) Samford, Austin Chambers (football) (walk-on) Auburn, Reese Baker (football) Tulane.
