The Delta State Statesmen have decided to double their Demopolis pleasure, adding a second of DHS’s class of 2005 two-sport stars to their baseball and football teams when Chad Schroeder signed a scholarship offer Monday morning.

Schroeder, who had originally signed on to play baseball at Andalusia’s L.B. Wallace Community College, will have a familiar face alongside him when he reports to practice at the Cleveland, MS school: fellow DHS baseball and football state champion Devin Goodwin, who signed on to play quarterback and pitch with Delta State only last week.

“It’ll make it a lot easier,” Schroeder said of having Goodwin for a teammate again. “He’s a good friend of mine, so things’ll just be more comfortable for me. We’ll have a good time.”

Like Goodwin, Schroeder was more-than-happy to have the chance to continue a football career he thought had ended with DHS’s run to the state title.

“I’m real excited,” he said. “Football’s something I really would have missed if I hadn’t played this year. I was already missing it, not having our summer workouts…I’m ready to start.”

Delta State is ready for Schroeder and Goodwin to start their Statesmen careers as well. Head football coach Rick Rhodes said that despite the peculiar circumstances of having two players join his squad only days before the start of fall practice, he expects big contributions from both of them in the future.

“Suffice it to say some aid became available,” Rhodes says of the late offers, “and we were happy to bring them here together. We are very much aware of the success Demopolis has had and we are aware of the roles these two men played in that success…we’re really excited to have them.”

Rhodes added that each of the former Tigers had something special to offer his football team.

“They’ll bring a lot to our football program,” he says. “They won a lot with Demopolis and one can really throw, and the other can really run. Those are good things to bring to the table.”

Schroeder said Delta State first showed an interest when coach Rhodes expressed the need for a defensive back and punt returner in conversations with DHS head coach Doug Goodwin. After reviewing Schroeder’s performances on tape, Delta State offered the DHS stand-out a scholarship last Thursday which Schroeder signed Monday. In addition to his punt returning and secondary duties with Rhodes’s football team, Schroeder will also continue his baseball career as an outfielder with Delta State’s powerhouse baseball program, which took home the 2004 NCAA Division II title.

“This is the kind of school I would have liked to go to after junior college,” Schroeder says, “so to go as a freshman, this is just a good opportunity for me.”