Student athlete receives offer from Tulane
October 23, 2016
Palmetto Prep Student-Athlete Earns College Eligibility
Palmetto Prep offers athletes a second chance at a college education by helping them become NCAA qualified. Wes Dorton, head coach and athletic director of Palmetto Prep Academy, wants his players to get out of Columbia. He wants them to move on to bigger and better things. Ke’shan Pennamon just gave Dorton exactly what he wants.
This past Friday night, Dorton got the news that Pennamon, a defensive back, received a scholarship offer to Tulane.
Pennamon came to Palmetto Prep from Jacksonville, Florida. For various reasons, he missed the opportunity to play college ball, but Pennamon wasn’t ready to abandon his dream to go to college and play ball.
“Most of these kids have the desire and the talent, but they don’t have anybody advocating for them,” said Dorton. “They’ve gotten lost. Some of these guys need to get their test scores up. They need somebody riding them. That’s what we do.”
Dorton is proud of Pennamon and proud of his program. When asked about Pennamon, the coach’s face lights up.
“Yeah, he’s good. He’s really good. He just needed some help.” Dorton is quick to give much of the credit to Tracy Garmon, the mother of Pennamon’s girlfriend. A closer look at the details brings up comparisons to the blockbuster movie, The Blindside.
Thanks to Garmon’s perseverance and programs like Palmetto Prep, Pennamon will get that second chance he was hoping for. His last game in Columbia will be October 23, and then he will travel with the Minutemen to Averett University in Danville, Virginia, and then finish the season with ASA Miami in his hometown of Jacksonville, Florida. It seems fitting to end in his hometown where he started, but this time he has many opportunities ahead. No dead ends for him. Earlier in the year he received offers from Wisconsin, Georgia Tech, and Georgia Southern. Pennamon’s dream are alive and well, and Dorton couldn’t be more pleased.
He tells his players not to let anyone take their dream from them. “Don’t ever let anyone steal your dreams,” he tells his players.
For Ke’shan Pennamon, that dream lives on.
About Palmetto Prep
Palmetto Prep Academy is a non-profit, Christian post-graduate and junior college program based out of Columbia, South Carolina. Palmetto Prep helps student-athletes earn the test scores and/or college credit they need to receive scholarships to four-year institutions. Palmetto Prep students can achieve college eligibility by attending college courses at a local technical colleges and taking ACT/SAT prep classes at Palmetto Prep.
