[GetChili]

May 15, 2012
A ‘Storm’ is heading to UK
Somerset multi-sport All-Stater Storm Wilson signs to play baseball for Wildcats

By STEVE CORNELIUS, CJ Sports Editor
Commonwealth Journal

Somerset — Somerset High School’s WB Jones Auditorium was packed with ‘purple and gold’ clad students on Tuesday afternoon during their annual year-end award cermony.

But during this particular school assembly, there was a large contingent of people dressed in Wildcat ‘blue and white’.

And during this particular school assembly, Briar Jumper athlete extraordinaire Storm Wilson did what most Kentucky student-athletes only dream about.

On Tuesday, Storm Wilson signed an athletic scholarship to play baseball at the University of Kentucky.

“Since I first started playing baseball as a little kid, it has always been my dream of playing college baseball,” Wilson said. “I played well enough in high school to get some attention from the colleges. But just about a month ago, the Kentucky coaches called me up and expressed some interest in me.”

“Living in Kentucky, everybody knows how popular UK is in almost every sport,” Wilson stated. “This year’s UK baseball team has been great after they came out of the gates with a 22-0 start.”

“The fact that a program like UK is even interested in me is humbling, but to actually get to play for them is a dream come true,” Wilson added.

During his prep career at Somerset High School, Wilson excelled both in baseball and football by earning first-team All-State honors in both sports.

“Storm is such a special athlete,” Somerset High School baseball coach Phil Grundy said. “Competing at the high level he did in football and baseball, says a lot about the school system that would allow him to be successful in two sports — but it took a lot of hard work by him.”

“Playing any sport at the University of Kentucky is a dream every athlete has in this community and throughout the state,” Grundy stated. “It is special to get the opportunity to play at Kentucky, but Storm will do great for the Wildcats because of his work ethic.”

“This is not only a big thing for Storm and his family, but this is a big thing for the whole community,” Grundy added. “I hope everyone will support Storm at UK and go support the Wildcats’ baseball team. After all, they are a Top 5 college baseball program with a chance to compete in the World Series this season.”

With a high school career baseball batting average of .572 and the Briar Jumpers’ all-time triples leader, Storm Wilson was getting some serious looks by host of colleges. But after Grundy pulled Wilson away from his lifelong catcher position and moved the talented athlete to centerfield — Wilson’s baseball stock rose even higher.

“Storm had been a catcher his whole life, and we were a little worried about moving him to a new position,” Grundy admitted. “As we started calling on colleges about Storm — as we do with all of our players here at Somerset — we found out not a lot of colleges were looking for catchers this year. So we made the decision with him and his family, that we could better promote him to college coaches by moving him to the outfield.”

“Storm is an exceptional athlete and he took to the outfield position and has been terrific,” Grundy said. “Coach (Otis) Manning and Coach (Mike) Fox worked with him in that position, and I honestly believe Storm is now the best centerfielder in the state.”

On Thursday in the Jumpers’ game against Corbin, University of Kentucky baseball coaches came to see Wilson play. What they saw was a Wilson lead-off triple off the wall in the first inning, and then three straight ‘respect’ walks by the Corbin pitching staff.

And although Wilson is still adjusting to his new centerfield position, he plays it to near perfection by easily tracking down any ball hit within 50 yards of him.

Wilson — who is the Jumpers’ third all-time leading football receiver behind John Cole and Allen Sexton —claims that his many years of chasing down footballs in the air helped him at the new centerfield position.

“I played almost every position on the field during summer ball last season,” Wilson said. “Making the transition to centerfield was really not that difficult since I have been chasing down footballs all those years.”

The Wildcat coaching staff was convinced of Wilson’s talent after seeing Wilson play, and offered the muti-sport all-state athlete a full ride to one of the top Division I college baseball programs in the nation.

“(A UK coach) came and watched me play on Thursday and I played pretty well that day,” Wilson explained. “After the game, he told me he would talk to the other coaches and get back with me. The next day he called me and made me an offer, and I accepted.”

Throughout his career at Somerset High School, Wilson’s athletic resume reads like a movie script for “The World’s Greatest Athlete.”

Wilson garnered first team All-State honors three years in a row on the football gridiron. He was selected as the Commonwealth Journal 2011 Player of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year in 2009. Wilson’s football career achievements include the Jumpers’ third most career receptions, fifth all-time in touchdowns and third best single-season receptions.

On the baseball diamond, Wilson was named first team All-State two years in a row. He was selected to play in the Kentucky East-West All-Star Game and the Midwest Chicago Classic. He was selected pre-season All-State for this season, and will more than likely make his third consecutive baseball All-State team.

Wilson is the Briar Jumpers’ all-time triple leader with 33 three-baggers. Wilson is just a few hits short of becoming the Jumpers’ all-time hit leader (that is if any of his opponents will ever pitched to him).

Wilson was selected as the Commonwealth Journal’s Player of the Year in 2010, and is in the running for Player of the Year again this season. Wilson has been on the All-County team all four years. In 2010, Wilson was named the Commonwealth Journal’s Male Athlete of the Year.

As talented as Wilson was on the football field, he has always shown all the tools to be a DI college baseball player. He has a career batting average of nearly .600, his on-base percentage is nearly .700, he can hit for power, can switch hit, he has speed to burn on the bases and in the outfield and he can play all the ‘skilled middle-of-the-field’ defensive position (catcher, second base, shortstop and catcher).

http://somerset-kentucky.com/localsports...ding-to-UK

[RoShamBo]

[Image: http://img.vrvm.com/media/render.htm?m=4...height=213]

[RoShamBo]

Cornelius sticking his foot in his mouth once again by writing about something he doesn't know about. Storm may be getting a little financial assistance in the form of an athletic scholarship but it will be minimal more than likely, like 25% assistance tops I would say. Full rides don't really exist in D1 college baseball. It is basically the entire team sharing a couple of scholarships, unlike football and basketball where you are given enough scholarships to give every player on your roster full financial assistance.

[Can of Corn]

And to add to that, usually pitchers get the most of that scholarship money.

[GetChili]

The other day at the announcement, Grundy said he got a full-ride, so I guess that's why it says that.