Sarah Hamlin, Xavier Fleming and Garris Edwards were joined by family and friends as they signed with colleges. 

MAYO — Three Lafayette High seniors signed letters of intent on Thursday.

Football players Garris Edwards and Xavier Fleming and volleyball player Sarah Hamlin inked to play at the collegiate level. 

Edwards and Hamlin will remain in Florida while Fleming is headed to Kansas. Edwards signed with Webber International University, Hamlin with Santa Fe College and Fleming will play at the University of Saint Mary.

For Edwards, Lafayette High’s all-time leader in rushing touchdowns, signing day was a long time coming.  

“Since I was four years old I wanted to play college football. The biggest day of my life,” Edwards said.  

Edwards will get to stay close to home — WIU is about a three-and-a-half-hour drive from Mayo — and play for former Lafayette Hornet Rodney Brown. Brown played at Webber and now is an assistant coach.

Edwards finished his career at LHS with 3,266 yards rushing and 42 touchdowns, averaging 6.7 yards per carry.

Fleming had an excellent 2018 season at linebacker. He led the Hornets with 94 tackles and had two interceptions. 

He chose USM for a variety of reasons.

“I feel like going away is a good thing. You get to experience new things,” Fleming said. “They have my major, medical technology. That was a big part of it. I felt like it was the best fit.”

Joey Pearson, former LHS football coach who coached both Edwards and Fleming, spoke at the signing. 

“Garris is going down to Webber. One of the cool things about that is he was recruited by former Hornet Rodney Brown. I’m excited about him having another Mayo guy down there. Xavier didn’t play his junior year, came back and had a phenomenal senior year. Super proud of these guys and the hard work they put in. They deserve this.”

Hamlin knew for a long time that she wanted to play at Santa Fe. She committed to the Saints all the way back in 2017.

“I’ve always wanted to stay close to home and they have an awesome volleyball program,” Hamlin said. “It’s always been where I’ve wanted to go.”

At LHS, Hamlin was a four-year starter and helped the Hornets win three district titles. She advanced to two regional finals and a state final in 2015.

A versatile player, Hamlin played middle blocker as a freshman and then outside hitter her last three seasons.

“She was very dedicated. Anywhere we put her on the court, she was a great player for us,” said Sonya Land, who coached Hamlin for two seasons at LHS. 

Hamlin also played five years of travel volleyball for Vision Volleyball of Gainesville.