NSD 2023: ECA's Addy headed to Harding
With his family looking on, Evangel Christian’s Nii Addy signed a letter of intent with Harding University on Wednesday. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
Evangel Christian Academy isn’t noted for its students attending college on a four-year athletic scholarship, so Nii Addy never really thought much about the possibility of earning a scholarship to play college athletics.
“I really thought they were going to have to pay for me to go to college,” he said. “I knew I had to push myself to get to where I wanted to be.”
And while he’s known around the area for his basketball ability, the struggles of the Lions’ football program didn’t seem like a logical path to college, either.
“A lot of people don’t know this but before they changed to 8-man here, I was going to quit playing football and just focus on basketball,” he said. “You see how it turned out, coming back to football and loving the sport that I always loved when I was younger.”
The 6-foot-2, 265-pound Addy has lived a storybook dream this season, helping the Lions win the first-ever Alabama Independent School Association 8-man football championship this past November, then signing to play college football at Harding University on Wednesday.
He spent much of the season in uncharted waters, trying to help a youthful Evangel Christian basketball team earn a postseason berth while taking recruiting trips to Duke, Arkansas State, Southern Mississippi, Troy and Tulane, among others.
“They all treated me like family,” Addy said. “I appreciate everyone that was out there recruiting me and offering me (a scholarship).”
In the end, he chose Harding University, a Division II private school in Arkansas that competes in the Great American Conference.
“It was like being at home, being with family,” Addy said. “When I went on a visit there this past weekend, it felt like I was at home.”
He’s glad to get the signing ceremony out of the way and return to the basketball court, where Evangel will play the winner of the Wilcox-Meadowview game on Tuesday in the AISA quarterfinals.
“What he’s done for the school has been tremendous,” basketball coach Kerwin Washington said.
Second-year football coach Darius Dixon had a similar message when he spoke to the football players assembled for the signing ceremony.
“He laid the foundation, set the standard for the rest of you to follow,” Dixon said.