While National Signing Day isn’t as big of a deal in Robeson County as opposed to other high schools in the area or across the state and nation, Wednesday did bring a big exciting feel to the four local football standouts who put ink to paper.

The number was a larger than normal class for us to go out and cover on that first Wednesday of February, and while that in itself meant a little more, the schools the players signed to meant the players were essentially playing in their back yards at the next level.

The four players — St. Pauls’ Marqueise Coleman and Caleb Oxendine, along with Lumberton’s Michael Todd and Purnell Swett’s Austin Chavis — are Robeson County’s finest out of this year’s senior football class. Before signing their National Letter of Intent and taking loads of pictures with family and friends that were enough to rival prom night, they put in the work to set themselves up with offers to two prominent local institutions — Fayetteville State and The University of North Carolina at Pembroke.

This area is full of alumni from both universities and now when fall comes and we congregate back to Grace P. Johnson Stadium and Luther Nick Jeralds Stadium for football seasons in the future, the same players we saw on Friday nights will be there doing the same on Saturday afternoons.

Both former rivals have battled for recruits over the years, but no local class might have been as highly-coveted as this one. The Braves and Broncos both made similar offers to players in this class, leaving them with hard decisions to make.

While the signings of Oxendine, Todd and Chavis weren’t a secret when they sat down at the table with their families, Coleman had the St. Pauls media center full of people, and even his own coaches, in suspense. He took center stage like he did on the field this season as unveiled his commitment when he put on a blue and white Fayetteville State hat, to complement his teammate across the dais as well as the St. Pauls colors he’s donned from middle to high school.

Coleman was Robeson County’s most electrifying player on offense this season, and could see the same type of career path to Stevie Green who precedes him. Green, a four-year starter for the Broncos, was thrust into a big spot as a freshman and with his exodus there’s a gaping hole that Coleman is set to fill.

Both programs looked to bulk up the trenches with this class, and Oxendine, Todd and Chavis fit the bill. All three were all-conference at their position, and Todd and Oxendine head to Fayetteville State to focus on the offensive side of the ball to clear the way for Coleman.

Chavis takes the short trip from Purnell Swett to UNCP in what has become a prospering pipeline between the programs in recent years and he will join a position group that has been one the program has hung its hat in recent years — the defensive line. But Chavis has shown he can be more versatile than just a hand-in-the-dirt defender and four years of development can show that.

Both programs did what they needed to on signing day and that is helping build the future, but the addition of the four Robeson County talents will not only add to the program, but further tie the teams to the local community even more.

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Jonathan Bym

Sports editor

Jonathan Bym can be reached at 910-816-1977 or by email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @Jonathan_Bym.