Perhaps the most versatile gridiron star in Marion County secured his future Wednesday, inking a letter of intent on National Signing Day.
Columbia High School senior Greg Fortenberry signed with Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, one of the top programs in the state. Fortenberry said it’s really important to him that he gets to continue his athletic career in college.
“Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been wanting to go to the next level and keep pursuing my dream of playing college football,” he said.
Although Fortenberry’s recruitment started off slow, as signing day approached the offers starting to come in for the versatile playmaker. He initially committed to Pearl River Community College while also having an offer from East Central Community College, but when Gulf Coast offered he flipped his commitment.
Gulf Coast recruiting him to be an H-back was a big selling point in getting him to de-commit from Pearl River and commit to play for the Bulldogs.
“The position they’re trying to play me at and the way they wanted me,” Fortenberry said as to why he chose Gulf Coast. “They said they couldn’t do it without me. They made it sound better, offered me a full ride and the position I wanted to play.”
The 245-pounder played all over the field for the Wildcats the past three years as an H-back, outside linebacker, defensive end, defensive tackle and inside linebacker, highlighting his superb athleticism for his size and build. Fortenberry said the plan is for him to play H-back at Gulf Coast initially and potentially help out some at linebacker as well.
“It’s not by accident that Greg is here,” Columbia head coach Chip Bilderback said. “Greg is a great football player. One of the No. 1 reasons why he’s here is he’s a two-time hard hat winner, meaning he has worked his butt off to get here. It hasn’t been easy, but he has worked extremely hard.”
Fortenberry thanked Bilderback, assistant coach Drew Fortenberry for teaching him how to be crazy on the field and his family for always pushing and supporting him.
The senior was the Region 8-3A Co-Defensive Player of the Year, a first-team all-state selection as a senior, second-team all-state as a junior, a two-time all-district selection and played in the North/South All-Star Game. Fortenberry showed out in the all-star game with four tackles, two tackles for loss and a forced fumble.
As a senior, Fortenberry racked up 55 tackles, 12 tackles for loss, seven hurries, three sacks and a forced fumble. He also rushed for 194 yards and seven touchdowns on just 30 carries and helped pave the way as a lead blocker for the Wildcats to run for more than 2,000 yards as a team.
Gulf Coast has been arguably the best JUCO in the state the past three years, going 7-2 in 2018, 12-0 in 2019 while winning both the state and national championships and 5-1 in the coronavirus-shortened 2020 season. The Bulldogs went undefeated in the regular season in 2020 but lost the MACCC Championship to Northwest Mississippi Community College.
