Goldsboro football players Elijah Wallace and Jeremiah McNair signed their national letters of intent to play college football.
Wallace signed to play with Methodist University in Fayetteville, while McNair signed with Anderson University in Anderson, S.C.
Goldsboro head football coach Ronnie McClary Jr. said Wallace and McNair were two of the most important leaders on the team this season, with Wallace leading the offense at receiver and McNair leading the defense.
“Eli was the captain of the offense, and Jeremiah was like the quarterback of the defense,” McClary said. “We could depend on those two guys.”
McClary added he could count on Wallace and McNair to play almost any skill position on offense and defense.
“Elijah, he played every skill position except for quarterback,” McClary said. “Same thing with Jeremiah, he played every skill position except for wide receiver … (and) we shifted them around.”
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McClary said he believes one of the biggest reasons for their versatility and success on the field was their strong work ethic which started in the offseason and continued throughout the season.
“(They bought) in during the offseason, when we first got here,” McClary said. “(They didn’t) give up on the program, even when we started to lose a couple of games. They still showed up to practice, and gave it their all, so we can appreciate that about both of them.”
McClary said he also admired their ability to play through fatigue and even injury.
“Both of them played just about every special team (assignment), so they were on the field quite a bit, and we tried to spare them when we could, but there (were) sometimes we couldn’t. They never (complained),” McClary said.
“Even when they were hurt a couple of times … they still didn’t complain about it, they just showed up (to play).”
At the college level, McClary said that McNair plans to continue to focus on playing linebacker, while Wallace, one of the leaders of Goldsboro’s offense, will switch his focus to playing cornerback.