The Morgan County baseball team recently had three players sign letters of intent to play at the next level.
On Nov. 12, seniors Ty Tillery, Caylem Richardson, and Hudson Reed held a signing ceremony in the school’s auditorium. Family, friends, and teammates attended the event to see the three Dogs put pen to paper.
Morgan County baseball head coach Steve Westmoreland said he has worked with the three players since their sophomore year. He reflected on his time as their coach and said he loves “to see the joy” they get when they reach the goal of receiving offers.
“As a coach, it’s always rewarding to see kids have a dream or a goal, and to be able to achieve that,” Westmoreland said. “Signing that piece of paper that day is the dream coming to fruition.”
Westmoreland said the trio has grown in many ways since he began his tenure as head coach at Morgan County.
“They’ve matured our student athletes, and have always been extremely talented,” Westmoreland added. “Probably the biggest change I’ve seen is that they are taking the gifts that they’ve been given and are more professional with their work ethic; they are working extremely hard at practice and in the classroom.”
Tillery is headed to Auburn, and Reed signed with Troy. Both were once committed to play right up the road at Georgia, but backed off their commitments and instead landed at their respective schools. Richardson signed his letter of intent with Gordon State.
Westmoreland said he had more involvement with Richardson’s recruiting process, since Tillery and Reed were committed to the Bulldogs upon his arrival as coach.
“Ty and Hudson’s recruitments were pretty much in high gear before I got here; they’ve had some changes since, but they did a lot through their travel ball and had some conversations with a few coaches on their behalf,” Westmoreland said. “I did a few phone calls for Caylem, and he went on the travel ball and showcase circuits; he performed really well, had some opportunities to pick from, and decided to go to Gordon.”
Westmoreland said he hopes to see more offers come through for other seniors on the team in time for signing day in the spring. He mentioned that he looks forward to seeing the 12 seniors compete in their final season with the team.
“They’ve all been working for one goal, especially the senior class, and a lot of them have been together since they were eight or nine years old,” Westmoreland said. “They were pretty disappointed last year when we lost in the semis, and so they’re pretty motivated to come back; I’m excited to see them get back out on the practice field and work towards that goal.”