Andalusia senior Allan George has only played football for the better part of three years, yet still landed scholarship to play for the Vanderbilt University.

“It’s truly a blessing to get the opportunity to play at school like Vanderbilt,” George said. “I was so excited when I got the offer that I went out in the yard and did a few back flips.”

The news came as kind of a shock for the standout cornerback.

“I really didn’t expect that offer,” George said. “It really means a lot though, that all of the hard work that I have put in is paying off.”

Just three years into playing football and in his first year playing cornerback, George said that his football career almost didn’t happen.

“Growing up, I hated watching football and I didn’t want to play it,” George said. “I started playing football my sophomore year because I knew it was brother’s last year and I wanted to be out there on the field with him just once.”

In his first year, George spent most of his time on offense as a receiver before switching to safety during a playoff game.

“I didn’t want to play on defense my first year playing,” George said. “They asked me to play, but I didn’t want to. It wasn’t until the third round of the playoffs when we were playing UMS-Wright that I went to Coach (John) Fussell and told him that I wanted to get out there and play safety, and he put me out there. It was the worst game of my life and I got torched, but that was the game that started my time playing defense. Now, I love football and I can’t live without it.”

George recently committed to Richmond, but after visiting Vanderbilt’s campus over the weekend he knew he had found a home in Nashville.

“The visit to Nashville was amazing,” George said. “I really enjoyed the entire experience and I knew that it was where I want to continue not only my playing career, but also my academic career.

On Friday, George said he and other recruits toured the campus and meet with professors.

“Academic comes first, and that is something that I really like about Vanderbilt,” George said. “I know that Vanderbilt is going to be a place that challenges me academically, and with a degree from there you can pretty much pick what job you want. After that, we went to the athletic dorms where we stayed the night the football players. I stayed with freshman cornerback Joejuan Williams. We just stayed around the dorm and played NCAA.”

The tour continued on Saturday when the recruits toured the athletic facilities, met one-on-one with head coach Derek Mason and their position coaches.

“It was really cool experience,” George said. “We broke down game film and meet individually with Coach Mason.”

George said that the coaches at Vanderbilt indicated that he could see time at cornerback and as a returner as early this season.

“They have told me that I will have chance to come and compete for a job at perimeter cornerback and maybe some on returns as well,” George said. “If not, there is nothing wrong with taking a redshirt year in the SEC. These are 5-star recruits that you are matching up against each week, so there is nothing wrong with getting and extra year to grow and learn.”

George said that he is truly looking forward to the upcoming year.

“I can’t wait to get there and start preparing for the season,” George said. “People don’t realize it yet, but we are going to compete for the SEC East title this year.”

During his senior season at Andalusia and his only season playing cornerback, George finished second in Class 4A with 7 interceptions.

To commend his standout season, George was nominated as a first-team cornerback by members of the Alabama Sports Writers Association.

George said that he will report to Vanderbilt in early July to begin summer school and workouts.