Proud in purple

Northwest Whitfield football coach Josh Robinson never worried about whether defensive end Adam Selby would show up — literally and figuratively — during his four years playing for the Bruins.

So it’s no surprise that Robinson was happy when Selby, whose hope of a college football career was all but gone, was recently awarded a partial athletic scholarship by Western Carolina University. At the Division I FCS Southern Conference program, Selby will follow in the paw prints of older brother Trey, a four-time letterman who was a senior last season for the Catamounts.

“Out of all the kids I’ve coached, I’ve had a lot of deserving kids, but he’s as deserving as any I’ve ever had,” Robinson said. “I know it was something he wanted, and he continued to try. His height held him back some, but Western Carolina found a steal late in the deal. They’ve got someone who will work as hard as he can to achieve.

“Those are the ones as coaches that we always want to see. Sometimes the most talented players are not your hardest workers. In this case, I think they’ve found a combination of both.”

The 6-foot-2-inch, 245-pound Selby had an outstanding senior season for the Bruins in 2011, finishing the year with 67 tackles (six of them for loss), six sacks, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. His play landed him on The Daily Citizen’s All-Area Football Team — he earned honorable mention as a junior — along with fellow Bruins defensive end Tallon Trew.

With Trew serving primarily as a pass rusher and Selby generally tasked with lining up where the opposing team was strongest on the run, they gave the Bruins a talented combination during their senior season. But at college recruiting time, Selby, who was also used as a blocking tight end in Northwest’s two-tight end set and occasionally lined up inside on the defensive line, didn’t reap the rewards for the work ethic coaches praised or his senior season stats.

As of April, more than two months after national signing day, Selby had yet to accept an offer — and one offer from an in-state private school preparing to launch an NAIA program turned out to be significantly smaller than what coaches had initially promised, with the difference in the range of $15,000.

Selby headed into the summer with plans to attend Dalton State College and leave football behind.

“At that point, my last option was to talk to Trey to see if he could do anything for me, and he couldn’t at the time,” Selby said. “So I did really think it was over until about a month and a half ago.”

The situation changed, Selby said, when the Catamounts suddenly needed defensive linemen. One player quit and another suffered a career-ending injury, and Western Carolina had scholarship money to spend.

On Friday, Selby celebrated signing with the Catamounts during a ceremony in the lobby of the Northwest gym. For someone who has spent countless hours in practice or competition over the past four years — Selby was also a successful wrestler at Northwest, placing sixth in the 285-pound weight class at the Class 4A state tournament as a junior and earning two selections to The Daily Citizen’s All-Area Wrestling Team as an upperclassman — it was the ending he wanted to his high school athletics career.

“It feels really good,” he said. “It’s like a great pride thing for me to play again and have teammates. One of the things I missed most when wrestling and football were over was having teammates to go through the grind you go through. One of the things I’m most excited for is the camaraderie.”

Robinson expects Selby to be the same kind of blessing for his new teammates and coaches as he was for the Bruins. In addition to starting the past two seasons at Northwest, Selby made significant contributions as a sophomore, when he backed up Nermin Delic and Ben Johnson.

While last season was Robinson’s first as head coach, he had been a Bruins assistant for eight years (including five as the team’s defensive coordinator) before taking the top job when Mike Falleur left in March 2011 for a job at Villa Rica. Robinson, who saluted Selby’s toughness and dependability while often going against larger offensive linemen, said that “every memory” he has of the player is “a positive one.”

“The last two years, the best way to describe Adam Selby is consistency,” Robinson said. “He was one of those kids that you just never had to worry about. He was going to bring everything he had to practice and games every single week. Obviously there are games where you have some ups and downs, but his downs were never low — they just weren’t as good as the good days.”

Selby credited his father, Chad, with instilling the need to be on time and at his best.

“Since even flag football, if there was a volunteer workout or whatever it may be, he always made sure I was there at least 15 minutes early,” Selby said. “I would feel bad to be just a minute later. He taught me to be on time and be there, because while you’re not there, somebody is getting better than you are.”

Family is also playing a part as he prepares to start camp next week at the school in the Appalachian Mountains. Trey, who’s just an inch taller than Adam, has been offering advice on how to survive at the next level.

“Right now, every day me and Trey will go out during the hottest part of the day and run,” he said. “He’ll teach me some of the drills I’ll have to do and give me pointers on how to go against some of these monsters I have to go against and how to get around them.”

While Western Carolina reached the Division I-AA (the predecessor to FCS) national championship game in 1983, the Catamounts haven’t had much success in the decades since then. They last had a winning mark in 2003, when they were just 5-4, and after last year’s 1-9 showing, coach Dennis Wagner resigned, having compiled an 8-36 mark in four seasons.

But Selby said his older brother expressed confidence in the hire of former Appalachian State assistant Mark Speir and believes the program can turn around.

Selby will try to do his part to make that happen.

“Whatever position I play,” he said. “I just want to do whatever I’m supposed to do.”

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