Mount Airy senior Zeb Stroup officially signed his NCAA National Letter of Intent and will continue his academic and football careers at Presbyterian College.
“To play college sports has always been the goal for me since I started playing sports, and it’s everything for me to get an opportunity like this one to go play at a great school with great coaches,” Stroup said.
Stroup’s role on Mount Airy’s football team changed year to year, and sometimes game to game. As the team’s Swiss army knife, Bears coach J.K. Adkins said he felt comfortable using Stroup just about anywhere on the field.
“Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out he’s an elite athlete,” Adkins said. “[He’s] probably the best all-around football player on our team. He did it all for us at some point it seems like.
“He’s a good enough player that we snuck him down into the box some nights, we put him on the other team’s best player some nights, then other nights his job was to take the top off the defenses and score. Whatever we asked him to do, that’s what he was willing to do. He’s just a great competitor with a strong will to win, and that characteristic bled off on everybody around him.”
Offensively, Zeb graduates with more than 1,000 yards passing (1,186), just under 1,000 yards receiving (965) and more than 500 yards rushing (512). He also scored 16 offensive touchdowns and ran in three 2-point conversions.
Defensively, Stroup scored two touchdowns on fumble recoveries, grabbed eight interceptions, defensed 11 passes and racked up 153 total tackles. He also served on the return team and took a kickoff to the house his senior year.
Zeb was named to the Northwest 1A All-Conference squad twice. As a senior, Mount Airy finished 13-1 and won the NW1A Championship. The 2021-22 Granite Bears also set a school record with nine shutout victories, only giving up 46 points all year while scoring 680.
What makes Stroup’s resume even more impressive is the fact that his senior football season was just the sixth school season of his career.
“I actually didn’t start playing football until seventh grade, and before that basketball was my first love,” Stroup said. “I always thought of myself as a better basketball player than football, but after playing football for a few seasons I quickly realized that it was the sport for me.”
Now Division-I bound, Adkins said that – above all Zeb’s physical gifts and high football IQ that helped the team in all three phases – what really separated Stroup from the pack was his competitive nature.
“The biggest attribute that he brought to the table was that he was an extreme competitor,” Adkins said. “His competitive nature elevated how we practiced and how we played. He’s a big part of the puzzle that we have to figure out how to replace next season.”
“I was extremely blessed to play at Mount Airy all four years, and be a part of such successful teams,” Stroup said. “Playing at Mount Airy has helped me develop the mindset that losing isn’t really an option, and that’s the mindset I plan to carry with me into college. All of my high school coaches expected the best and pushed every single one of us day in and day out, and that rubbed off on me: always striving to be the best.”
In addition to his coaches, Stroup expressed gratitude to his mother, Angela, for helping him achieve his dream.
“I would really like to thank my mom for everything,” he said. “Growing up with two other brothers that played sports as well, she never missed a game, always got us to and from practice and loves sports just as much as I do. She truly has been in my corner through this entire process and has given me wisdom and her thoughts, but never being overbearing and I can never thank her enough for that.”
With high school football and basketball seasons now over, Zeb turns his attention to becoming a Division-I student-athlete at his home for the next four years.
“Presbyterian just seems to be the right fit for me,” Stroup said. “With an entirely new coaching staff, I know there won’t be any favoritism and I’m gonna get my shot, but what really attracted me to it was the relationships between my recruiters and I. They made me feel wanted and pursued me relentlessly for months, and in the end it just feels like home.”
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com
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