Greeneville High School senior Carson Quillen is the 5Star Preps 2025 Offensive Player of the Year. He led the Greene Devils to a Class 3A state championship and was also named TBCA Mr. Baseball.
BY NOAH TAYLOR
The decision loomed over the start of Carson Quillen’s final season at Greeneville.
The Greene Devils’ two-sport star, fresh off of a stellar football season and on the eve of his senior baseball campaign in February, had decommitted from Virginia Tech where he was set to play both sports.
The ever-changing landscape of college sports and a situation he was unsure of made Quillen decide to take a chance on himself, instead.
“You’re unsure of what you’re going to do, and it makes you question a little bit of what you should do,” Quillen said. “I kind of took it to heart. I wanted to put myself back out there and have a really good year.”
Quillen accepted his own challenge, then followed it up with a Class 3A State Championship, 3A Mr. Baseball honors, a commitment to one of the premier programs in college baseball in Vanderbilt late last month, and now the 5Star Preps Offensive Player of the Year.
Quillen hit .512 with 21 doubles, 36 RBIs, 48 walks and 49 stolen bases. On the biggest stage of his high school career, he went 4-of-4 at the plate with five RBIs in Greeneville’s 10-0 blanking of Munford for the program’s third state title.
On the mound, Quillen was equally impressive. He went 10-1 and tossed 66 strikeouts–numbers he used to watch as they piled up. He made it a point to ignore them this past season.
“I just wanted to go out there and prove who I was,” Quillen said. “I wanted to play every game…You want to steal that extra base, you want to do this and that for your team. I would just remind myself, especially early in the season, not to think about (stats). Just trying to do everything I could to better myself.”
Greene Devils’ head coach Andy Collins knew the weight Quillen was carrying after his decision to break with Virginia Tech and the uncertainty that came with it.
There were conversations about it. The two talked about football and baseball. They talked about options and best fits. But when Quillen stepped on the field, nothing had changed.
“Carson is Carson,” Collins said. “There were a lot of big games throughout the year, which Carson rose to the occasion…He was the definition of consistency, and it was consistently good.”
That consistency was on full display during Greeneville’s season and the memorable postseason run that followed. Quillen provided it in preseason workouts. He provided during it in the infield, at catcher, pitcher and when he was at the plate. He provided it whenever his team needed it.
Collins hadn’t seen anything quite like it in his coaching career.
“I’ve had guys with talent, but I haven’t had a guy like Carson Quillen,” Collins said. “He’s just the definition of determination, work ethic. This is a kid that’s driven. And he’s driven for all the right reasons. That’s a big part of him.”
Tim Corbin apparently saw it, too.
The Vanderbilt head coach, with two College World Series titles to his name, had recruited Collins as a football and baseball player during his head coaching stint at Presbyterian, and in a full circle moment, called his star player just as the dust had settled in Greeneville’s state title in May.
“I don’t know if you expect that kind of call to stay on the phone that long,” Quillen said. “I think we talked for like 45 minutes to an hour the first time we talked. It was just an amazing call.”
Less than a month later, Quillen committed to the Commodores, adding another chapter to a story that is becoming rarer in the world of college baseball recruiting–one dominated by NIL and the transfer portal.
It was an “old school” recruitment, Collins says, and it was the kind of recruitment that couldn’t have been more fitting for a player like Quillen.
“It says so much about this kid,” Collins said. “The big stage is not knowing where you’re going to go after a year. What kind of pressure is that on a kid? It’s a big story. That’s all due to Carson. That’s his character and his makeup.”
“You kind of want to show them what they’re losing,” Quillen said. “I really wanted to prove everybody wrong and show them who I really was.”