Tucker Runion (center at table) smiles, surrounded by family and supporters at today's signing ceremony.

Spring Hill's star linebacker, Tucker Runion, wore Lyon College blue, red and white at a lunchtime signing ceremony that was witnessed by hundreds of students and staffers.

Before Runion signed, his coaches for football and basketball spoke about his sense of ambition and his ability to learn quickly. Coach Greg Smith said. "He's literally defied a lot of the laws that would apply in this situation. He's overachieved, and he's done what he set his mind to do, and he's achieved it and that's why he's here today."

When he first met Assistant Coach Caleb Loe, Runion was told he would be playing linebacker. He confessed to having no knowledge of the position. But, as Loe explained, he mastered it fast. "All I had to do was put in the plan for him, and he was the one who put it to work."

Football Assistant Coach and Girls' Basketball Coach Austin Kidd said he has known and coached Runion since he was in the fifth grade and "it's been a privilege to watch him develop as a young man, a great Christian man, and we're going to be his biggest fans from here on out."

After Runion signed his letter of intent, and posed through multiple rounds of photos with friends, family, coaches, teammates and cheerleaders, he described the journey it took to decide on Lyon College, a private liberal arts school in Batesville, Arkansas. "It was definitely difficult. When I was a little kid, I thought I wanted to play college football but not a lot of people will do that. Whenever I got word from Lyon that they would actually invite me, I was like 'Oh my goodness, you actually made it.' It just makes me work harder and harder, more than I've ever done it. It's been a great honor."

Runion said he also liked that Lyons College has a reputation for academic excellence: "If I don't make it good in football, I want to make it good in academics."

The coaches' speeches, the signing and the photo session can be seen in the video below, filmed in the Spring Hill High cafeteria:

https://youtu.be/xBAVjFSxgco