National Signing Day | Palmetto's Brian Bembry chooses D-II Carson Newman over D-1 offers
Brian Bembry had offers from several Division I college football programs.
But when National Signing Day arrived at Palmetto High on Wednesday, Bembry spurned all of those places to stick with the program that came to him at the beginning of the recruiting process.
The defensive lineman was one of nine Tigers to sign national letters of intent at the school Wednesday by choosing Carson-Newman University, a Division II college in Tennessee.
The lure of Carson-Newman was its religious association as a Southern Baptist school.
“The people there and how they put God first I mean, God is first in my life and I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Him,” Bembry said. “My coaches were a big part of getting me here, too.”
Other Palmetto football players that signed Wednesday included wide receivers DeAnthony Warrick (Chestnut Hill College), Dearius Washington (Limestone College), Simon Williams (Florida Institute of Technology), running back Quincy Washington (Chestnut Hill), corner back Ty’yondre Gordon (Chestnut Hill), defensive end Devan Barnes (Southeastern University), offensive tackle Brandon Gaitanis (Limestone) and defensive lineman Bradley Wyatt (Warner University).
“It doesn’t matter where you start, it’s where you finish,” Palmetto head coach Dave Marino said.
Bembry had offers from Kent State, Purdue, Wake Forest, Florida International University and Pittsburgh, but ultimately went with Carson-Newman.
“My heart was tugging toward Carson-Newman as soon as I saw them, because they were my first offer,” Bembry said.
Palmetto’s softball program also added a signing class with Sabria Bruton (Pasco-Hernando State College) and Auria Mounts (Indian River State College). Both Kendall Vedder (Austin Peay State University) and Jordan Whitaker (Salem International University) were honored, too, but previously signed during November’s early signing period for other sports.Bruton is the program’s first Junior College signee since 2010, while Vedder and Whitaker became the first Division I and II signees, respectively, in program history since 2005.
Meanwhile, Cardinal Mooney’s Reese Vita, who is from Bradenton, became enamored with Furman this past weekend and signed Wednesday.
“I had a lot of other opportunities from some really good schools, but this is where for a long time I wanted to really go,” said Vita, who visited Maryville College, Florida Institute of Technology and Stetson.
An All-State honorable mention, Vita led the Cougars to a regional final berth this past season and is the program’s all-time career leader with 4,300 passing yards and 40 touchdown passes.
He said he’ll redshirt his freshman season to get bigger, stronger and faster as well as getting acclimated to college football at Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) program Furman, which has won 13 Southern Conference championships.
“Hopefully he’s a in a situation where he can play Division I football, but, more importantly, he’s going to get a great education,” Mooney head coach Josh Smithers said. “Furman has a great reputation.”
Soccer player Rose Amato (Tampa), lacrosse player Alex Stoffel (Skidmore College) and lacrosse player Jimmy Kahl (Oswego State) joined Vita in signing Wednesday. Soccer player Sarah Quick was honored, too, but signed her letter of intent earlier in the day at IMG Academy.
This story was originally published February 4, 2015 at 9:09 PM with the headline "National Signing Day | Palmetto's Brian Bembry chooses D-II Carson Newman over D-1 offers."