Article:Paul Schenkel/Shelby Star

National Signing Day was a mere formality for one Cleveland County high school football player. For another, Wednesday’s events ended a five-month hat-switching rollercoaster ride.

Burns punter Patrick Fish verbally committed to play at South Carolina during the first week of October and never wavered, officially signing to play for Steve Spurrier’s Gamecocks.

“I definitely didn’t expect this when I started playing my sophomore year,” Fish said. “I went out and won the varsity job, went to a couple camps and ended up (ranked) 13^th at one point nationally. That’s when I knew I’d have the chance to play to be a Division I player. I’m just excited right now.”

Meanwhile, Crest three-year starting quarterback Reggie Wilkins signed with North Carolina, the team he’d originally committed with in September. But in between then and now, Wilkins had de-committed from the Tar Heels and switched his plans to play for rival N.C. State, after watching the Wolfpack beat UNC in Raleigh, before re-committing to the Heels last week. He had also taken a recruiting trip to Louisville in December to look at the Cardinals program.

“It felt more like home when I was (in Chapel Hill),” Wilkins said. “I feel relieved to have this behind me now.”

Wilkins, who’s expected to play receiver in college, said he did not expect the Heels to ask him to redshirt this fall. The Gamecocks, however, told Fish in September that he may sit out until 2011 and have a chance to win the starting job then.

Fish is part of a USC class — ranked 15^th nationally by ESPNU — that includes the Southeast’s top running back Marcus Lattimore (Byrnes, S.C.) and top 100 offensive lineman A.J. Cann (Bamberg-Erhardt, S.C.).

Besides three-star recruit Wilkins, UNC’s Butch Davis hangs his hat on defensive tackle Brandon Willis (Byrnes, S.C.) and offensive lineman James Hurst from Indiana.

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