Published in the Kerrville Daily Times.
(Logan made First Team All State as a shortstop for 4A Kerrville Tivy, plays for the South Texas Sliders 17U team, and will be playing for the Texas Rangers Area Code Team later this summer)
Decisions, decisions ...
Alex Byington
The Daily Times
Published July 12, 2008
Baseball or football? Which will it be for Tivy senior Logan Vick?
For the 17-year-old two-sport star, there’s no question. He wants to do it all.
“I want to kick the field goal to win the game and hit the home run to win the game,” Vick said in a telephone interview on his way to visit the University of Texas. “They’d both be awesome, and I love both sports.”
The last month has been a whirl-wind ride around Texas as Vick scours the state for the perfect college.
“It’s been really awesome, I’m just trying not to let it become stressful at all,” Vick said. “I’m just trying to enjoy it and be thankful that I’m in this situation and not the other way around.”
Vick has been receiving plenty of attention since the end of his junior year, traveling up and down the state visiting more than half a dozen schools eager for his signature.
“They’ve been following him for a long time but they weren’t able to contact him until after his junior year,” Tivy baseball coach Steve Rippee said. “For him, it’s just a lot of hard work that’s paying off.”
Vick, who led the baseball team with a .543 batting average, 51 runs scored and 36 RBIs as Tivy’s leadoff hitter last season, is being pursued mostly by college baseball programs.
But given his showing on the gridiron last season Vick has quite a decision to make. He led the Antlers with 128 points on 12 field goals including two from 51 yards out. He also caught 68 passes for 1,043 yards and 13 touchdowns.
NCAA rules dictate that players on baseball scholarships can’t play football. But if Vick were offered a football scholarship, things would be a lot different.
“If it works out where I can kick also, that would be wonderful, but I just don’t see it happening 100 percent,” Vick acknowledged. “I hope it does, but I haven’t gotten any [favorable] offers for football right now.”
Vick hasn’t totally given up hope, even contemplating walking onto a football team with hopes of earning a scholarship that way.
“He can probably do both,” Rippee said, laughing. “He’s capable of doing it all.”
The baseball offers Vick is juggling include Dallas Baptist, where his older sister Jordan is on a s****r scholarship, Texas Christian, Baylor, Sam Houston State, Texas and Oklahoma.
He’s also visited Rice, but has yet to receive a scholarship offer from the perennial College World Series participant.
“It was kind of a shock at first because I didn’t expect a whole lot of colleges to be contacting me during the summer,” Vick said.
And although he’s gotten interest from both the Sooners’ baseball and football coaches, the Texan isn’t eager to leave the Lone Star State just yet.
“I’ve just kind of narrowed it down that I don’t want to go to OU,” Vick said. “It’s just kind of far, and I like the in-state schools equally as much.”
With prospective high school seniors allowed a letter-of-intent on Nov. 14, during the early signing period for college baseball, Vick is hoping to have all his decision-making wrapped up in the next couple of weeks.
“I’ve been able to narrow it down a little bit to what colleges I like the most but I don’t know for sure where I want to go,” Vick said. “I’m still up in the air right now.”
There are some things that may sway Vick in his decision-making, including the challenge of playing in the Big 12 Conference.
“It’s hard to beat UT’s brand new stadium, but other then that, a lot of the stuff is all the same, and I’ve liked them all equally,” Vick said.
Since May, almost every weekend has been filled with either baseball tournaments or camps, and sometimes both, while the days in between he’s spent making unofficial visits to college campuses all over the state.
“I haven’t been in Kerrville a whole lot [this summer],” Vick joked. “I’ve spent most of it on the road.”
Over the last week, Vick played in a baseball tournament in Arkansas, attended a camp in College Station, played another tournament in Temple, spent Thursday night in Kerrville before hitting the road again early Friday morning to attend the Lone Star Kicking Challenge in San Marcos and then make an unofficial visit in Austin.
Before he packs his bags for college, though, Vick has another season of Antler football and baseball.
“I’ve always had a deep love for baseball ever since I was little, but football is a lot of fun too and I love playing, especially after last year,” he said.
After spending the last few months playing baseball every day, though, Vick is eager to get back on the gridiron.
“It’s real exciting, I can’t wait until football gets here,” he said. “Friday nights are awesome — just being out there and ready to play.”
“Our offense is going to be really strong this year and our defense is going to get better as we go along,” he added.
Whatever he decides to do, whether its football or baseball, Vick is confident he’ll be happy wherever he goes.
“I couldn’t make a wrong decision going with any of those colleges,” Vick said. “It’s basically where I have the best gut feeling.”
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