Ephraim Wright made his Wingate signing official during Newton’s National Signing Day ceremony.

Wright was one of many Newton defensive backs who signed national letters of intent to play college football on Feb. 7. Wright signed alongside defensive backs Maurice Harrell, Jonathan Dormevil, Jamarcus Presley and Jay Ford.

After a season that ended with Wright being named to the First Team All-Region for Region 4-AAAAAAA, the senior defensive back felt like the signing was seeing a culmination of all his hard work pay off.

“Today, it felt like everything finally paid off — the last four years of what we have been doing,” Wright said. “I know I still have a long way to go, but this is just a stepping stone.”

Following the season, Wright was named to the 2023 All-Cov News Defensive Team.

When Wright was evaluating colleges, the academics of the school played as much of a factor as the football program did.

“I value academics a lot,” Wright said. “At Wingate, I felt like academics was really a big part of it — just being able to get an education while also playing football.”

When referencing his favorite moment with the Rams, Wright took it back to his first bit of playing time during his sophomore season. 

Wright touted this game as the beginning of his journey to playing college football.

“A moment that I feel was good for me was in my sophomore year,” Wright said. “I didn’t play the whole season, but I got in the last game of the season against South Gwinnett. We lost the game, but I was able to get in. I made a couple plays, stepped up big.”