On Tuesday, the Buchholz baseball team had seven players sign collegiately.

Then National Signing Day on Wednesday, three Bobcats made their college football dreams a reality.

Two of them, safety Caleb Young Jr. and wide receiver Keil McGriff, will be playing Division I football, but offensive lineman Michael Edwards has the potential to be a D-I prospect as well.

“It feels great, I mean, it’s a long time coming,” McGriff said. “I’ve been working for this for a long time. I mean, it’s just a great feeling. It was also super cool to be to be able to do it with big old Mikey Edwards. I love that guy, great teammate.”

Despite missing his entire senior season due to injury, McGriff is headed to South Carolina to play for Clemson University.

“There’s so much to love about it,” McGriff said. “Coach (Dabo) Swinney is just, he’s amazing. I mean, he’s a genuine coach. I think he’s the best coach in the country. Everyone there, from the equipment man to Coach Swinney, is a great person. So, I just have to say the genuineness (is what stood out).”

Although he wasn’t able to continue a legacy in high school, he will get an opportunity to do so for the Division I Tigers.

“He’s an amazing athlete,” said Buchholz football coach Mark Whittemore. “If you look at his numbers at Newberry, he came over here as a former quarterback and I think he threw for over 4,000 yards there as a freshman and sophomore, so he was a kid that was two years in the playoffs with them, played with some great talent over there, but he wanted to become a receiver.”

Although he didn’t know it at the time as a junior, he saved his best game for his last, with 14 catches for 162 yards in the Class 6A state semifinals against Osceola (Kissimmee).

“To be honest, that was my first year playing receiver and so obviously, by the end of the year, I was a lot better playing receiver than at the beginning of the year,” McGriff said. “So, it was kind of cool to have my best game, what happened to be my last game in high school, other than a couple plays in this past year’s spring game, but yeah, it was good.”

McGriff, who also returned a punt for a touchdown against Evans (Orlando) in the 2024 FHSAA Class 6A-Region 1 Quarterfinals, had surgery on his left ankle on Oct. 1 and said he’s “about a month out from being completely healthy.”

He’s expected to play the H-position, or slot receiver, as well as special teams.

Young, who held a special signing ceremony on Wednesday night, signed with Division I Western Carolina, where he will play for former Gator quarterback Kerwin Bell.

He was a preseason Super 11 selection and a first team Bosshardt Realty All Area selection this past season after recording 77 tackles, including a team-leading 51 solo tackles. He added six tackles for a loss, three interceptions, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.

Another former Gator, Reid Fleming, was his position coach at Buchholz.

“First of all, he’s just a phenomenal leader, the way he approaches the game of football, his preparation and just overall demeanor,” Fleming said. “He comes into practice, to games, with a bad attitude, as far as looking to inflict harm on an offensive player, and as a defensive coach, I love it. He’s been that way since day one, phenomenal athlete, phenomenal human being. He’s like a linebacker at safety.”

Whittemore said he made an immediate impact.

“Very much like Keil in that he came over here as a junior and finished out,” he said. “Two-year starter, captain for us. So, he was a team captain, and we have four permanent captains. He’s one of them. He led us in tackles both years, and I just can’t say enough about his leadership, his consistency and his ability, obviously.”

Fleming believes he will play linebacker for the Catamounts.

“But he might be a hybrid, he might be nickel, he might be safety, he might be a Will linebacker, but he’s athletic enough to play any and all, which is a great spot to be in,” he said. “You want to be versatile at the next level.”

“Big Mike,” who is 6’6 and weighs 340 pounds, signed with Georgia Military College in Milledgeville, Georgia.

“He had questions at the beginning because he was a big kid that had not grown into his body yet, and really hadn’t been around the game a whole heck of a lot,” said Buchholz offensive line coach Matthew DiBernardo, whose confidence level is 100% that Edwards will eventually play D-I. “The amount of improvement that he made over the course of these last four years, if he makes that improvement again and continues to improve, we will see him play at a very, very high level. He’s a great kid.”

The first team All Area selection played a lot of left guard for an offensive line that allowed just five sacks all year, but he is expected to move to tackle at the next level.

“He’s got a tackle body, and he’ll continue to grow into it because he’s not done growing yet,” DiBernardo said.

The trio joins D-I signees Justin Williams (Florida) and Evan Walker (Central Michigan), who signed with D-I schools in December during the early signing period on National Signing Day.