LA GRANGE — Caleb Baird really really wanted to kick a football in college.
Wingate University was the only school that really really wanted Baird, so he took it up on its offer.
Baird, North Lenoir’s record-setting kicker, signed his National Letter of Intent during National Signing Day on Wednesday to play football for the Bulldogs next fall.
While he received other offers from other schools, Wingate was the only school that offered Baird a guaranteed spot and a guaranteed scholarship.
“I just feel like God opens doors and he closes doors and he just put this up in front of me and it was hard for me to — I just had to do it,” Baird said. “I’m excited about it.”
“They offered me a starting position, and money, so I just couldn’t risk giving up that opportunity.”
The 5-foot-10 kicker has always had a booming leg, but Baird really came on the scene last fall as a senior.
He kicked 12 field goals, nine of which that went at least 30 yards, and set the school record for the longest made field goal with a 47-yarder against Clayton Cleveland on Sept. 14. He also kicked the ball into the end zone on kickoffs on 96 percent of his kicks, made the all-area team and was named the Eastern Carolina 3A Conference’s specialist of the year.
Still, only Wingate, a small Division II school southeast of Charlotte, would fully commit to Baird, he said. He had other offers, such as the possibility of playing for a spot at Wofford or Western Carolina, he said, but he wanted something more concrete than being, “a preferred walk-on at certain places.”
“The whole recruiting process was basically an unknown — you don’t know what they’re doing, what they’re thinking,” he said.
Baird said he and his family submitted letters of interest to 119 different schools across the country and only a few responded — most with a generic response.
But now the process is over, and Baird is completely satisfied with his school of choice.
“I look at it as playing football is a plus. I’m going to get an education first,” he said. “I want to have a good four years and just live it up — have fun playing football.”
His coach, Calvin Sutton, feels his prized kicker will do well.
“He’s a Division I talent with potential that is limitless,” Sutton said. “When he starts living and breathing football every day, his talent level is going to skyrocket.”
Ryan Herman can be reached at 252-559-1073 or Ryan.Herman@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter: @KFPSports.
