After four years of high school football, thousands of student athletes will move on make the first step toward college football today.

National Signing Day begins today with not only fans’ favorite college teams, such as Georgia, Georgia Tech, Alabama, Notre Dame and others bringing on the players of the future, but also local stars mapping out their next moves.

Football players from Eastside, Alcovy and Newton will sign on the dotted line today and officially decide where they will play college, along with a former Newton County Recreation standout Ketyrus Marks.

Marks will sign a national letter of intent to play football at Arkansas at his high school, Suncoast in West Palm Beach, Fla., today. At Suncoast High1, Marks set the single season sack record with 16, earning a spot on the Georgia/Florida All-Star team and Nike American Bowl. He was also named to the All-American, All-State, All-Region and All-Area teams. His father Keith is a Covington resident.

The local signing begins at Newton at 10 a.m. with Treyvon Richardson, Kingsley Ejike and Duronte Carter accepting college scholarships.

Newton defensive end Ejike was an All-Atate selection and Region 2-AAAAAA’s Defensive Player of the Year with a team-high 52 tackles, including 21.5 for loss. Ejike had 15 sacks, two quarterback hurries, two fumble recoveries and one fumble caused.

Richardson had 38 tackles, including five for loss and had four sacks in 10 games as Newton’s nose tackle this season. Carter played in eight games, tallying 39 tackles and one interception for the Rams this season.
Signing day shifts to Eastside at 2 p.m., where two players will sign. Former Eagles’ defensive end Antonius Sims will be going to GMC after being a state-recognized standout for Eastside.

Sims had 39 tackles, including 12 for loss, two fumbles forced and one defensive touchdown.

Sims’ fellow defensive lineman Zach Kimmel will be signing as well. Kimmel had 19 tackles and three sacks for the Eagles in 2012.