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By Brent Maze and PJ Poellnitz

The Demopolis High School football program has had a tradition of sending football players to Division I football programs.

Last week was no different as Dyllon Williams and Alexander Mullings both signed letters of intent with Kentucky and Georgia State, respectively, in front of their family, teammates and friends at the school library.

Williams has seen a lot of attention since his junior year. He was sought after by Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Texas A&M, Missouri and Cincinnati. He had committed to Missouri over the summer, but since decommitting, Kentucky has been the only one who’s been on his radar.

“After I committed, Coach Buffy (Frank Buffington) always stayed in contact with me, so he showed me what they want and the need that I was,” Williams said. “So he showed me that I was a priority for him and the team. So that goes a long way.”

Williams will be enrolling in the spring after he graduates this month from DHS.

Mullings had interest from several other programs such as Jacksonville State, Southern Mississippi, which just hired a new coach, and few others. But Georgia State was the one that stood out to him.

“It was the coaches and the culture there,” Mullings said. “I felt that love from them.”

One other benefit to Mullings is that he will be able to enroll this spring at Georgia State.

“It feels good that I get to sign, especially since I’m graduating early,” Mullings said. “I’m proud.”

Head coach Lance Tucker said these two players are great athletes.

“I’ve said a bunch that Demopolis football players are the toughest animal on earth,” Tucker said. “They’re getting two really, really tough young men. But most importantly, it shows the type character that they have because they’ve done what they were supposed to do in school to be able to graduate at Christmas. And so that’s the three things I think that, you know, these two schools are getting.”

Tucker, who has only been in Demopolis for two seasons, said the one thing that stood out to him was their work ethic, especially during the offseason.

“They give it all they got in the off season, and as a player, the hardest time is the off season, and there are so many distractions. So just their work ethic that in the off season I think speaks volumes of who they are because the playing part’s the easy part, the playing part’s the fun part,” Tucker said.

“It’s all the other stuff that people don’t see. They put the work in and it’s obviously paid off for them.”

For these two athletes to finish their careers by graduating early, Tucker said it’s due to the school administration and staff to help prepare them for the next step.

“That speaks volumes of our administration, Ms. Gantt, and the leadership role she plays here to help these kids actually get this opportunity,” Tucker said. “And you can’t say enough about Ms. Gantt and Coach Pittman and Ms. Gullet and what they do to try to help not just these two, but the entire student body go to the next level, if that’s what they want to do.”