On Tuesday, Feb. 11, Ariton High School senior Tristan McGuire signed to play college football at Huntingdon College in Montgomery.

McGuire played tight end, h-back and defensive end at Ariton. He caught eight passes for 54 yards and two touchdowns on offense and defensively, McGuire was a standout. As a junior, he recorded 84 tackles, seven tackles-for-loss, one sack and a fumble recovery. A a senior, though, McGuire tallied 113 tackles, 16 tackles-for-loss, two sacks and a forced fumble.

“It was really about being a family there,” McGuire said of signing with Huntingdon. “Everyone is like a family there and as soon as you sign, you’re accepted as a brother. I want to win some rings, too, so I think it’s a great program to play for.” 

Huntingdon head coach Mike Turk is a Troy Football legend and the type of atmosphere and culture that he’s cultivated at Huntingdon reminded McGuire of the one at Ariton.

“Coach Turk is like another father figure,” he continued. “He made it feel like home there and if you’re under his (roof), he’s going to be like your dad. That really touched my heart because that’s the same way (Ariton) Coach (Steven) Kilcrease is here. Any time you needed something he’s always there. So, that was important to me.” 

McGuire said that the coaches at Ariton helped build him into a man.

“When I first started playing varsity, I think I really had a bad attitude,” he said. “I was a hot head all the time. Coach Kilcrease and the other coaches put a lot of time and effort into all of us and taught us how to be a man. When you’re going through struggles, they teach you how to push through it and fight through it.”

Signing his letter-of-intent was a big moment for McGuire, one that he originally thought may  never come following a serious knee injury. 

“At the end of my junior (basketball) season I tore my ACL and I thought my football dreams were over,” he remembered. “Coach (Steven) Hicks, the defensive coordinator at Huntingdon, texted me and said they really liked me at tight end after watching my film and that’s when it really hit me that I could push through this injury and come back better than I ever was. When they offered me the scholarship, I was like, ‘Alright, it’s time to work’ after that.” 

McGuire is already setting goals for himself in college, on and off the field. 

“Academically, I want to major in criminal justice and become a detective or something like that,” said McGuire. “I want to start improving myself athletically from the time I get there, my first day, and try to make first or second team, but mainly I want to make sure I make the travel squad and bust my butt every single day.”