By Kyle Roberts
RUSTON, La. — Mark down two more Ruston High Bearcats headed to play college football.
Bearcat senior defensive tackle Payton Bell and senior wide receiver Joran Parker have now signed with Clark Atlanta University in Altanta, Ga., and Lane College in Jackson, Tenn., respectively.
“These signings show the respect that colleges have for our football program, even when it’s smaller colleges that people may not have heard of before,” Ruston High head coach Jerrod Baugh said. “Whenever I’ve talked to the people on those campuses, they feel like our guys are top quality guys. It speaks so much to what our football program represents, and that’s spreading all over the place.”
Bell held a signing Monday morning in the main auditorium in front of his teammates, coaches, friends and members of his family, while Parker elected to have a private signing back in March.
Bell is heading to Clark Atlanta with the intent to study kinesiology to be an athletic trainer and chose the football team for the sense of community.
“They told me they really want to see me play,” Bell said. “Any organization that wants to see me play that much, I’m 100 percent going to go. And I really want to be an athletic trainer. Coach (Chris) Brister inspired me a lot, and that’s the direction I want to go.”
Parker is signing with Lane College to study business and plans to go early in the summer to get a head start on the playbook and earning his college credits.
“Lane College felt like family to me,” Parker said. “Being here in Ruston, (the coaches and team) made me feel like family, and the coaches there are the same way. And I want to get there early and get the extra nine hours of credit and get into the playbook — I know it’s going to be different from high school.”
Bell finished his career at Ruston High after lettering all four years — a rarity, as Baugh described in the signing ceremony. He earned numerous post-season accolades after finished with 44 tackles and four sacks on the season.
Parker finished with the second most catches in the season for Ruston (31) and lead the team with seven receiving scores.
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