Four North Side seniors will play college football at the University of St. Francis. Those players are running back Alex Holliday-Robinson, defensive back Jaylen Harris, wide receiver Auntral Franklin, and linebacker Preston McElroy. Holliday-Robinson was able to sign a letter of intent, while Harris, Franklin, and McElroy simply made verbal commitments. The news became public when WANE-TV published an article on their website.
Holliday-Robinson was the Legends leading rusher this past season with 901 yards and nine touchdowns. He rushed for 1214 yards in 2018. He spent three years at North Side after transferring from Carroll following his freshman season.
At USF, Holliday-Robinson plans to major in Business Administration and minor in Marketing. The relationships he developed with the coaches proved to be a big reason as to why he wanted to go to St. Francis.
“I’ve been talking to St. Francis a lot, and I’ve been over there a lot of times since I’ve been a freshman when I was still at Carroll, I got to know the coaches really well,” Holliday-Robinson said. “I just feel like St. Francis wanted me to go there as bad as I wanted to go there, and it was just the right fit.”
Harris was a safety at North Side. As a senior, he had 22 tackles and intercepted a pass in the regular-season finale against Concordia. He played quarterback early in his career. And in this year’s game against Wayne, Harris got to play quarterback again. He threw for 228 yards and four touchdowns and scored a rushing touchdown. He plans to major in Communication: Film. He felt very comfortable after meeting the coaches and players at USF.
“I felt like the coaching staff really wanted me there, I felt like the environment was good,” Harris said. “When I went on a visit, I got connected with the teammates right off the jump.”
Franklin caught 29 passes during his career at North Side, picking up 536 yards and scoring eight touchdowns. Meeting the coaches played a role in his decision, as did the academic programs that were available at St. Francis.
“The coaches were very, very genuine with how they recruited, and how they wanted to showcase how their football program was,” Franklin said. “And I’m also into music, they’ve got a good music program over there as well, so that’s why I chose to go to St. Francis.”
Franklin plans to major in both music and business.
McElroy finished his senior season with 17 tackles; including five tackles for loss and a sack. He plans to continue playing linebacker for the Cougars. However there is a possibility that he might play H-back, a position McElroy has played during his high school career. There were multiple reasons he chose to go to USF.
“It honestly just seemed like the most right decision for me just because it’s in town, it’s a great program, and also the culture there is really similar to the one that [Head] Coach [Michael Brevard] has kind of started at North Side considering [St. Francis is] where he went,” McElroy said.
Coach Brevard played at USF from 2010 to 2014. He expects Holliday-Robinson, Harris, Franklin, and McElroy to get a quality experience.
“One thing that they’ll learn about St. Francis is the brotherhood there is kind of like a fraternity,” Brevard said. “I still talk to Coach Donley, and [Assistant] Coach [Joey] Didier like I still play for them. So it’s a family atmosphere, [the kids will] get that component of it, but they will be held to a very high standard and room for error is very slim.”
Brevard also is excited about the education that his athletes can receive at St. Francis.
“A wise man once told me, ‘college is not a four-year decision, but a 40-year decision,’ and what you see with Saint Francis grads is that they graduate and end up becoming productive citizens in our society,” Brevard said.
Holliday-Robinson, Harris, Franklin, and McElroy will join program that has experienced great success under head coach Kevin Donley. The Cougars have gone 219-50 under Donley. They won back-to-back NAIA national titles in 2016 and 2017. The Legends’ seniors are excited to be joining such a quality program
“Obviously, they won two national championships not too long ago, and last year they had a little bit of a down year,” Holliday-Robinson said. “But talking to the coaches, [there’s more excitement] about the future and coming back this year ready to work. And that excites me because, myself, I’d personally like a championship ring too.”
“Just to know that the likelihood and the chance of doing great things there is pretty high, and I’m just super excited to see what the future holds,” McElroy said.
