Deshawn Page of Fulton, the 2018 Class 5A Mr. Football winner. (Photo by Danny Parker)
Though there had been rumblings and speculation over the last month of Fulton star linebacker Deshawn Page possibly not going to Marshall, the 6-2 senior linebacker made it official on Wednesday.
Page, who signed with Marshall in December, announced his decision on Twitter to abort his plan to attend Marshall and seek another opportunity.
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Page will attend East Mississippi Community College, which went 12-0 last season and won the NJCAA National Championship. The program has won five national titles in the last eight seasons and was the primary subject of the first two seasons of the Netflix series “Last Chance U.”
God’s Plan🙏🏾❤️ pic.twitter.com/avFGq7of33
— 6.pages (@DeshawnPage7) April 3, 2019
Page won his Class 5A Mr. Football award this past season, as he made 16 tackles for loss and three interceptions this past fall. He also led Fulton to a pair of runner-up finishes in the Class AA state boys’ basketball tournament.
His athleticism and potential still haven’t been fully tapped. That’s why football programs like West Virginia and Missouri offered Page.
But there are others in the SEC, ACC and other conferences still after him.
“He had a situation where he had options: to go to Marshall or decide on a Juco,” said Fulton coach Rob Black. “He had a lot of good jucos recruiting him. When it came down to it, he really like EMCC. Really, he was in a situation where, even though he signed with Marshall, he could decide later on that, ‘If I want to go Juco, I can. If I want to stay with Marshall, I can stay with Marshall.’
“Talking with him, the big thing with him is: the opportunity to go play immediately and have the chance to get re-recruited. That was important to him.”
EMCC, Garden City and Independence are a few of the main big-time junior colleges that were after Page. They made long road trips to Fulton to court Page.
EMCC simply offered the best opportunity.
“Every SEC and ACC school around here in the South has called and inquired about him. And several of those schools called EMCC and said, ‘Hey, y’all need to go after this guy.’ So, I think all of those guys are pretty excited, as well, to know they have a chance to re-recruit this guy and, in a year and a half, have a chance to get him again.
“I think that’s appealing to (Page). Just watching him go through the process, I can tell that he thinks of himself — and I do, too — as big-time, Power-5, SEC-type player. And so this will give him that opportunity.”