This current group of football recruiting prospects from Warren Central can be defined as a resilient bunch.

After losing their season opener to Wayne County in the Red Carpet Bowl, the Vikings went on an eight-game winning streak and reached the second round of the Class 6A playoffs for the first time since 2002.

Wednesday is national signing day, and as many as nine Vikings, including equipment manager Steven Grenchel, will announce where they’ll spend the next few years playing the sport they love.

“They’re going to go somewhere next year and be really successful because they’re willing to put work in and they’re willing to make the sacrifices needed to win and take the time to be successful,” said assistant coach Ross Coley, who handles the recruiting process for Warren Central.

Out of 14 junior colleges in the state, 12 have taken a look at Warren Central’s senior prospects. Coley said the only two that don’t recruit in Vicksburg are Northeast Mississippi and Itawamba, simply because of the distance between those schools and Warren County.

Coley said he’s had players take trips to interested schools nearly every day since the semester started and they finished their visits last week.

Safety Byron Galvin and defensive back Derrick Dixon have drawn the most interest. Galvin, a two-year starter who played in the Bernard Blackwell Mississippi All-Star Game in January, has offers from 10 of Mississippi’s junior colleges including Hinds and national powers East Mississippi, Northwest Mississippi, Copiah-Lincoln and Mississippi Gulf Coast.

“Byron Galvin has a bunch of scholarship offers. He had some interest in the spring from some of the mid-major four-year schools but nobody really pulled the trigger,” Coley said.

With the exception of Jones Junior College, Dixon has received offers from the same schools as Galvin. Offensive lineman Sam Reed garnered interest from Northwest and Southwest Mississippi Community Colleges, Mississippi Delta, Gulf Coast and East Central.

“These guys all have big decisions to make,” Coley said. “We try not to push them any one way. We kind of try to lay stuff out for them as far as what they do, being a fit for what you do and all that.”

Receiver Larry Ferguson has received offers from Mississippi Delta and Coahoma Community College, while Holmes is looking at offensive lineman Keenan Jones. Jones was a second-team all-state selection.

Holmes and Hinds are also looking at running back D.J. Knight. Holmes is interested in Keenan Jones as well. Coley said tight end Liam Hopson is in the feeling out process with Division III Millsaps, which does not offer athletic scholarships.

“Keenan Jones, for example, he really fits what Holmes does,” Coley said. “Holmes runs the Navy flexbone, which they need athletic guards and don’t discriminate on people’s height. Keenan’s not really that tall. In fact, he’s perfect for what they want to do. He can pull and run, and he’s an athletic guy.”

Location is an important factor any senior faces when deciding what college to attend. Some of the community colleges are in small, rural towns where attractions such as Walmart, Pizza Hut or the movie theatre require miles of driving.

However, recruiters often flip what could be deemed as a blemish and use it as a selling point for their program.

“A lot of the coaches come through and are honest about what kind of town they have. If you’re a really small town they’ll try to sell you on ‘You have no distractions here, it’s just books and ball,’” Coley said.

Warren Central has 28 seniors, meaning the majority of the team won’t get to bask in the excitement and hype of national signing day.

Coley then talks with the other players and preaches to them about not letting their high school football career be the best thing they’ve ever done.

“Football ends for all of us, it’s just a matter of when. You’d like to do it forever but you’ve got to make peace with it and move on,” Coley said. “You have to be as kind as you can but you have to get the message through that it’s going to end. It doesn’t take away anything that you did in high school as a player.”