Feb. 12—JOHNSTON — The second week of February included a major milestone for at least three Strom Thurmond High School seniors, as the Rebels’ football program had three players pick up a pen and confirm their plans to compete in college football.
Honored in a Feb. 11 gathering in the school’s gymnasium were Jalin Collins, who is on track to play for Presbyterian College; and Deonte Phillips and Shaheed Williams, both of whom signed with Newberry College, meaning that the three Thurmond standouts may spend the next four years within about 25 miles of each other in pursuit of academic and athletic success.
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All three players, fresh from helping claim the state Class AA title by way of a 13-2 season, came on board at the high school at the same time as their head coach, Andrew Webb, and saw plenty of playing time in the process of catching college recruiters’ attention. As signers and football standouts, they join teammate Kaleb Simpkins, who signed in December to play for Campbell University, in central North Carolina.
Collins’ background is as a defensive back, and Phillips’ is as a linebacker and running back. Williams’ resume includes service as a wide receiver and a safety.
Webb, whose background includes having played for Presbyterian as a safety, commented on the afternoon’s honorees. “Everybody that you coach is special. All the relationships that you have are special. This is just special to me, at Strom Thurmond, because we came here together,” he said.
“Our journey — my journey here and their journey here — is very similar. We worked as hard as we could, we had to fight through adversity and ultimately we got to where we wanted to get to — being state champions, earning a shot to get your college education paid for and play college football — so these guys will always be special to me, and my family will always be their biggest fans.”
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Webb pointed out that the Rebels junior varsity football team only had 18 players during his first year at Strom Thurmond, so Collins, Williams and Phillips got plenty of time on the field.
“They played every snap on Thursday nights, and came up with us in the playoffs as freshman, and they’ve all been varsity players since they were sophomores — three straight years and a lot of hard work,” he said.
Among Phillips’ highlights from the 2025 campaign were a total of 1,203 rushing yards, with 25 touchdowns as a result; and a total of 29 solo tackles. Williams’ stats included one touchdown by ground and nine by air. His longest reception of the season covered 74 yards, and he had 42 solo tackles along the way. Collins’ data included 19 solo tackles.
Presbyterian competes in NCAA Division I in the Big South Conference, meaning that its regular opponents are spread among the Carolinas and Virginia, including such names as Charleston Southern University, USC Upstate, High Point University, and Longwood University. Presbyterian’s football program, however, competes in Pioneer Football League, described on its website as “the nation’s only non-scholarship, football-only NCAA Football Championship Subdivision conference.”
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Newberry competes in NCAA Division II in the South Atlantic Conference, which has members spread among the Carolinas, Virginia and Tennessee, including such names as Anderson University, Carson-Newman University, Catawba College and Emory and Henry University.
