TAMPA – The recruiting process for Chamberlain OL Dajshon Oliver was just beginning to heat up last February.
He was talking to North Carolina State. USF and Cincinnati were interested. His high school coaches thought he could play just about anywhere.
And then Oliver tore his left labrum.
“It slowed down after that,” Oliver said.
But it didn’t stop completely.
Oliver landed an offer from Warner University and signed there Wednesday during a ceremony at his high school. Chiefs receiver James A. Martin will join him at the Lake Wales school.
Oliver’s surgery and rehab sidelined him for the spring and summer and made him miss the first two games of the fall.
When he finally returned to the field and got closer to national signing day, Oliver said he didn’t need to readjust his expectations. He wasn’t disappointed that larger programs stopped writing – he was just happy to get a free education somewhere.
“I’m always humble,” said Oliver, who plans to study business administration. “Whatever I get is what I got.”
LB Anthony Davis was the Chiefs’ only other signee Wednesday. The three-star recruit signed with Toledo over Texas Tech, Florida Atlantic and Florida International.
Davis, a 5-foot-10, 204-pound senior said he’ll have to get used to the cold and snow at the Mid-American Conference program, but he’ll have some help, too. The Rockets have stocked their roster with players from Florida and Tampa Bay, including Lakewood alumni Bernard Reedy and Rodney Adams.
“It made me feel at home,” Davis said. “There were some kids from my area, so I wouldn’t be the only one from Florida.”