Xavier Jones '17 made the most out of his postgraduate year at Wilbraham & Monson Academy, and he was rewarded for his positive effort.
Xavier signed his National Letter of Intent Feb. 1 to attend and play football at Stonehill College in Easton, Mass.
"I really like the school as a whole," Xavier said. "The school has good people, it's a nice campus, nice facilities and nice coaches. It drew me in to feel welcome there."
Xavier excelled on both sides of the ball for the Titans in the 2016 season, helping the team to a 7-2 record and berth in a Class B Super Bowl.
"Xavier is a great kid to coach," Coach Jeff Vartabedian said. "He made the most out of his PG year and contributed heavily on both ides of the ball. He was our shutdown corner on defense, covering the best receiver on the other team and he always came through. And he made a lot of big plays for us on offense."
Xavier made two huge plays – one on offense and one on defense – in the fourth quarter in a road game at Canterbury School. The Titans won that game 14-12. A loss would have potentially knocked WMA out of contention from a spot in a Super Bowl.
"He's quiet and unassuming, but he always came ready to play and produced week after week," Coach Vartabedian said. "He's a great kid and great teammate and we couldn't be happier for him."
Xavier, who played wide receiver and cornerback, was selected to the Class B All-League Second Team.
"This was a great postgraduate opportunity to get another year to work on my academics and football," Xavier said. "This was a great opportunity to get different looks for football to be able to go to a good school academically and for football.
"Signing an NLI is a great experience. It's kind of overwhelming and kind of exciting. There are a lot of different emotions."