Although his decision to attend Brevard College was firmed up a few weeks back, Polk County High School graduate Andre Overholt made it official Friday, July 8, gathering with family members and Polk head football coach Bruce Ollis at the Wolverine field house for the signing of his football scholarship commitment letter.
Overholt, who played both ways at quarterback and defensive back, led the Wolverines to a school-record 12-win season in his senior year, passing for 1,800 yards and 21 touchdowns while rushing for another 1,053 yards and 16 TDs. He will join teammates Cody Orick and Juan Hicks as the trio dons the Royal Blue and White of the Brevard College Tornados this fall.
“Brevard assistant coach Brock Pursley told me that Andre will be given a chance to play right away, probably at one of the slotback positions,” said Ollis. “The thing about Andre is that he is so multi-dimensional – he can catch, he can run, he can throw — he can probably even tape ankles at halftime if they need him to,” joked Ollis. “He can do a lot of things and he can do them well.”
Signing an athlete of Overholt’s caliber is a major recruiting victory for the Brevard coaching staff, headed up by coach Paul Hamilton. The 5’10” 160 pounder not only earned All-Western Highlands Conference honors in football, basketball, and baseball, he was also the most valuable player for Polk County High School in all three of those sports. Overholt, along with fellow graduate and Wolverine teammate Tyler Philpott, is scheduled to play in the North Carolina East-West All-Star game next week in Greensboro.
Overholt, a straight A honor roll student, plans to focus his studies on business.
“Getting a degree in business will open up a wide range of options for me,” said Overholt at the signing Friday.
“We’ll miss Andre’s leadership as much as we’ll miss his playing ability,” said Ollis. “He was a tremendous leader and one of our team captains. To me, on any sports team, particularly football, that’s the biggest honor you can get, being elected team captain by your teammates.”