Small-University athletic programs don’t often possess the resources or coaching abilities to successfully equip large quantities of student-athletes to join Major League teams. Georgia College & State University offers a Division II program for its college athletics; however, the school is better known for its academic emphasis on the liberal arts.
Quietly, some Bobcats have steadily trickled into professional sports, culminating in one player reaching the major leagues of baseball and several others earning contracts in the minors.
The most visible success story is that of Josh Taylor, a 2014 graduate who made his debut with the Boston Red Sox in 2019. Once signed as an undrafted free agent, Taylor’s ambition to pursue professional athletics led to a late-career breakout into MLB play.
Behind Taylor are several Bobcats who have transitioned their standout collegiate seasons into professional contracts. One player, Dylan Cook, an Infielder for the Bobcats, signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2016 after a prolific senior season where his batting average exceeded .400, among other accolades.
More recently, Noah Mendlinger was a 2021 graduate who played third base and signed with the St. Louis Cardinals as a free agent. Currently, he climbs through the Cardinals’ minor league system to potentially get a spot on the major league team.
The Baseball program at GCSU has marked many players for successful professional careers and significantly expanded in 2018, when three GCSU players were selected in the Major League Draft. This milestone showed a period of growth for Bobcats baseball and was credited massively throughout local and state media.
In an interview with WGXA, head coach Jason Eller remarked on one player, Logan Mattix, who was drafted to the Houston Astros in the 25th round.
“We are thrilled for Logan and appreciative to the Houston Astros for their interest in our players,” said Eller. “Logan is a tremendous student-athlete with many All-American accolades both on the field and in the classroom. Mattix is a five-tool player and was a centerpiece to back-to-back PBC Tournament Championships. We wish him the best in his journey into professional baseball.”
These individual successes are just the most recent additions to a baseball program that, according to public databases, has seen more than 20 of its players drafted or signed to professional baseball and at least one alumnus signed to a major league team.
Other alumni outside of the baseball team have also achieved significant success in their respective sports. Earl Grant, a 2000 graduate, played for the men’s basketball team, helping the Bobcats win 2 consecutive Peach Belt conference titles and a run to the Division II Elite Eight in 2000. After graduating, Grant began a steady climb through the college coaching ranks as an assistant coach at multiple programs before landing a head-coaching job at the College of Charleston.
In an interview with Channel 5 WCSC, Grant pays homage to the head coach at Wichita State, who hired him directly out of GCSU to act as assistant coach for their team from 2004-2010.
“I would not be in this situation if it were not for Coach Marshall giving me a chance six years ago and mentoring me and helping me develop as a coach and person,” said Grant. “He taught me the importance of putting my family first and cherishing them.”
Now, Grant has been the head coach at Boston College since 2021, making his career as a Division II player stretch into Division I sidelines. Grant’s story is notable for its roots in his love of the game. Rather than reaching for professional ranks as a player, he used his strong Division II playing career to create a strong professional coaching path that carries its own prestige in College Athletics.
One final success story is that of Daria Owen, who played as a midfielder and defender for GCSU women’s soccer from 2006-2008. After her collegiate career, Owen qualified to represent Guyana through her familys lineage and earned a spot on the Guyana women’s national team during the 2010 Women’s World Cup.
While her career in professional soccer was largely halted after her debut appearance on the world stage, she still held the spotlight during World Cup competition, acting as a significant marker of athletic achievement.
Each story illustrates the various careers that GCSU student-athletes have pursued, extending from their original love for their respective sports. Grant’s professional success is rooted in his love for basketball and his continued success as a coach. Owen’s international appearances showed how smaller-school’s players can reach top competitive environments through national eligibility and skillful play. Finally, the Baseball team’s ability to funnel top players into the MLB draft is a marker of their own success and dominance in the Division II league.
For student-athletes at smaller schools, gaining exposure is the main challenge. Division II schedules see fewer televised games and a majority of draft attention gravitates toward high-profile Division I programs. This reality has pushed GCSU players to pursue summer leagues and independent games where scouts can evaluate their skills against their competition.
Importantly drawn from each success story is one notion: passion is what matters. Each student-athlete has understood their position, their challenges and their ambitions in their careers. Each one has also used these understandings to successfully and skillfully break into professional play.