The Demopolis High class of 2005’s brightest two-sport star is going to stay a two-sport star.

Devin Goodwin, member of both DHS’s state championship-winning football team and baseball team, accepted a scholarship offer last week to play both baseball and football for Delta State University in Cleveland, MS. Goodwin had previously signed a baseball scholarship for L. B. Wallace Community College, but leapt at the chance when Delta State recently gave him the chance to continue his career in both sports.

“I’m excited about playing football again,” Goodwin said Thursday. “I love baseball, but I really wanted to continue playing both because I love football just as much.”

Delta State made their offer months after most 2005 signing classes have been completed. Goodwin, who was named to 4A All-State as both a quarterback and a pitcher, indicated that a football scholarship came available when one of Delta State’s quarterback signees backed out of his commitment, deciding to focus on his career as a pitcher. In conversations with Goodwin’s father Doug, DHS head football coach, Delta State’s coaching staffs agreed that Devin would have the opportunity to play both sports–an opportunity Devin says some other schools who were interested in him as a quarterback, like the University of North Alabama in Florence, had not offered him.

“It’s not like we were bargaining to get the right deal or anything,” Devin says. “They just stepped up and gave me an offer I couldn’t turn down.”

Devin signed the scholarship offer last Friday, officially committing himself to Delta State for the 2005-2006 school year. Goodwin admits that despite his excitement at the chance to play both sports at the next level, his enthusiasm for the move to Mississippi is tempered somewhat by having to abandon his plans to play for L.B. Wallace. Goodwin was one of three members of DHS’s championship baseball team to sign with the Andalusia school, along with catcher Seth Basinger and outfielder Chad Schroeder.

“It’s tough,” Goodwin says of not being able to play alongside his DHS teammates. “It was going to be fun. It kind of stinks, to be honest. But I really just couldn’t turn [Delta State] down. It’s a good school. The campus is cool, and I’ve met the coaches. They were really nice. I felt like I would really fit in there.”

Goodwin arrives at Delta State as one of Alabama’s top 2004-2005 performers in both sports. A finalist for the 4A Player of the Year award in football, Goodwin set a state record for touchdown passes in a season on his way to being named All-State and chosen as one of two quarterbacks on the Alabama roster for the annual Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Football classic. On the diamond, Goodwin was named an All-State pitcher after finishing the year with a 9-2 record and an ERA under 1.5, including a perfect record during DHS’s post-season run to the title.

Like the University of West Alabama, Delta State competes at the NCAA Division II level as part of the Gulf South Conference. Goodwin will return to the area’s playing fields in 2006 when the Delta State visits UWA as part of the GSC baseball schedule.