Jamon Hogan rushed for more than 4,700 yards and 72 touchdowns over the past two seasons, but the bigger college football programs didn’t come calling.
That didn’t deter the Columbus East senior, who has found his future home at NAIA power Marian University. Hogan will follow in the footsteps of his cousin Krishawn Hogan, who starred at Marian before getting a taste of NFL action with the Indianapolis Colts last season.
“My cousin went there, so I know the coaches and everything,” Jamon Hogan said. “At first, I wasn’t sure if Marian was the right fit for me, but the more I thought about it, the more I got used to the idea.”
Hogan, who plans to major in sociology with minor in communications, is a two-time The Republic Co-Football Player of the Year and was a Class 5A All-State selection. He was one of four seniors from the 5A state champion Olympians to participate in a signing ceremony on Thursday.
One of the others, offensive tackle Zach Clark, signed with Division II University of Indianapolis. He also had considered Hillsdale (Michigan), where his brother Jared is a freshman, before committing to the Greyhounds.
“For one, it’s close to home, and that was kind of big for me,” Clark said. “My brother goes to Hillsdale, and that’s four hours each way. Making that drive a couple of times, I realized it would be really nice to be 50 minutes from home. I really like the (Indianapolis) campus, everything about it. They have a brand new engineering program which really excited me, and then their football team, too, is one of the top in the nation.”
Hogan’s backfield mate, Jadein Miller, just committed to Thomas More on Wednesday before signing Thursday. Miller ran for 852 yards and 23 touchdowns, including 132 yards and three scores in East’s 42-28 state title-game win against Kokomo.
Miller plans to major in education at Thomas More and wants to be a teacher and coach.
“I just like the atmosphere there,” Miller said. “It’s like a family.”
Nose tackle Nick Booth signed with Anderson University. Booth recorded 47 tackles as a senior.
Booth plans to major in sports marketing.
“Anderson gave me a great opportunity for academics and also a spot to play football,” Booth said. “I couldn’t say ‘No.’ I felt right at home as soon as I stepped on the campus.”
The quartet joins tight end Tyler Thomas as signees from East. Thomas signed with Indiana Wesleyan in December.
Olympians coach Bob Gaddis said those players not only did a great job of representing East not only in high school but will represent the school well at the next level.
“They’ve worked hard to accomplish this,” Gaddis said. “You get a chance to go play college football, it’s really an avenue to go get your degree. I’m sure all of these guys four years from now are going to be graduates, and they’re going to be successful young men.”
