Photo Courtesy Pike County News Watchman
Waverly senior Trevon Bolin-Hitchens, seated middle, signed his National Letter of Intent to play football for Division II West Virginia State University. Also seated, left to right, is grandmother Sue Ann Bolin, mother Amy Hitchens, father Shelby Hitchens and grandfather Bo Hitchens. Standing, left to right, are Waverly high school principal Bill Hoover, Bolin-Hitchens’ uncle and former Waverly football assistant coach Jason Bolin, former Waverly head football coach Rusty Wright and Waverly Athletic Director Bo Arnett.
Cody Leist
PDT Sports Writer
WAVERLY — If there’s one way to best describe Trevon Bolin-Hitchens, it’s his ability to be versatile.
During his high school career at Waverly, Bolin-Hitchens switched his sophomore year from inside linebacker to quarterback and played the rest of his high school career as the team’s offensive signal caller. When he steps onto campus at NCAA Division II West Virginia State University this fall, he will look to make it as a tight end.
“It’s funny because I always used to harass the coaches, I always wanted to block and go out to catch passes,” Bolin-Hitchens said. “But they never let me do it so it’s actually a good thing. I like (the) tight end (position).”
His former high school coach, Rusty Wright, said he put Bolin-Hitchens at quarterback because of his athleticism and maturity.
“He was a kid that you knew that you could count on that could do that,” Wright said. “His separation was the fact that he has leadership qualities, intangibles that other kids follow …certain people have that and he has that.”
Bolin-Hitchens signed his National Letter of Intent Wednesday to play for the Yellow Jackets, a program that will be under first-year head coach Jon Anderson. Of the 32 players in the 2013 class signed by WVSU, Bolin-Hitchens is one of seven to come from Ohio. He will be joined by Chillicothe’s Luke Barnes, Westfall’s Trent Williamson and St. Clairsville’s Matt Kinnick among players from the southeastern portion of the state.
While Bolin-Hitchens was on his trip at the Dunbar campus, he said it clicked. Before visiting campus, Bolin-Hitchens admitted the interest came from out of nowhere.
He made the selection after having West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference foe West Liberty, Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference member Findlay and Division III Mt. St. Joseph also on his radar.
“As soon as I got there, I pretty much knew it was home,” Bolin-Hitchens said. “Afterwards, they pulled us into a room individually and said here’s a scholarship. That was just what really pushed me towards West Virginia State.”
With the switch in responsibilities on the field, Bolin-Hitchens feels he can grow.
“I love quarterbacking, it’s fun but at the end of the day, it’s a lot on your shoulders,” Bolin-Hitchens said. “To not have all of that on my shoulders for four years, it’ll be pretty nice.”
Wright said it was a culmination of hard work that landed his former quarterback with the Yellow Jackets.
“He’s just one of these kids that have come up through your program, worked hard all the way through and the thing about what he’s done is he’s proven against a level of competition that we’ve had to play (against) the last few years,” Wright said. “He can just stand up and play against anybody and I think that’s one of the things about him is that his work ethic matched the competition he had to play against.”
Bolin-Hitchens joins a line of recent Tigers to play college football. Most notably, Trevor Walls and Derek Roback were both tight ends last season at Division I Football Bowl Subdivision schools. Walls was a senior at New Mexico State University while Roback finished his redshirt sophomore campaign at Ohio University.
When classes start in the fall, Bolin-Hitchens will be studying special needs education. It’s a field of study that he’s always wanted to be a part of for a career.
“Little kids inspire me,” Bolin-Hitchens said.
Cody Leist can be reached at 740-353-3101, ext. 294, or cleist@civitasmedia.com.
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