The number of college signees for the Newberry football program increased to five on Tuesday for the Class of 2025.
Quarterback Collin Dunmore and kicker/punter Zane Spires made it official when they signed with St. Thomas University and Benedict College, respectively.
“It’s always exciting for these kids, their families, obviously the team, the community,” said Newberry football coach Ed Johnson. “The hard work that they put in, you get to see the success that comes with it. All our kids are going to school debt free. They get to get a degree without spending any money, so that’s always the goal.”
This past fall, the Panthers defeated Bradford (Starke), 21-7, to win the Class 2A-District 5 title, their first district championship since 2007.
They also advanced to the third round of the Class 2A state playoffs before losing at eventual state champion Cocoa in the region final.
Dunmore and Spires were a big part of that success.
“It was a good run,” Dunmore said. “My Newberry brothers, the community, the team, the coaches, everybody just took me in and made me feel at home right when I came here.”
Dunmore (6’5, 225), who played with several of the Newberry players “since little league,” transferred from Buchholz for his senior season and immediately made an impact.
“Collin was a Godsend,” Johnson said. “He came in and did everything we asked him to do. He had 25 touchdowns and two picks. He took care of the ball. He’s explosive. In the playoffs, we used his legs a lot. He came up big for us there. He was great for us all season.”
In 12 games, he threw for 1,493 yards and ran for 442 yards on 75 carries (5.9 yards per carry).
“I’m thankful for the opportunity, Coach Johnson, the coaching staff, just believing in me and giving me the platform to showcase my ability and play at the next level,” Dunmore said. “St. Thomas made me feel at home right away. Their play style, the offense, I think it just fits me.”
One of the games that stands out the most to Dunmore is a 34-19 win against Bradford in the Class 2A-Region 2 Semifinals. He accounted for four touchdowns as the Panthers won two playoff games for the first time since 2012.
“It was just a big game for me, a big game for the community,” he said. “That’s the furthest Newberry had been in quite a while, so it meant a lot. Me being my first year here, just bringing that to the community felt good.”
Dunmore said he wants to work on the intermediate pass, his accuracy, and “get a little bit bigger muscle-wise” before he heads south to Miami and lines up under center for the NAIA Bobcats (9-1), who finished 5th in the country this past season.
Spires (6’2, 170), who helped lead the Panthers boys soccer team to its first district title in 23 years in January, only saw himself as a soccer player for most of his life after picking up the game at the age of six.
However, he was asked to try out for the football team during his sophomore season and now he’s going to get an opportunity to play that sport at the next level.
“It definitely feels a little surreal,” he said. “It wasn’t my initial plan. I never thought I would be playing football at the next level, but I’m very thankful for all of the opportunities that I’ve had and for the staff believing in me. I’m grateful for it.”
He chose Benedict College, an HBCU in Columbia, South Carolina, because of how welcoming they were.
“It was really out of nowhere,” Spires said of the opportunity which came about in mid-January. “Coach Johnson told me they were interested…I didn’t have them on my radar at all but one of the coaches finally reached out to me and showed he was very interested in me and the relationship kind of built from there.”
Spires, who was named the Gainesville Quarterback Club’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year, made 31-of-33 extra points and was 8-of-13 on field goal kicks as a senior. He kicked two 49-yard field goals, one against Lafayette (Mayo) in the Kickoff Classic and his second during the regular season finale at Trinity Catholic (Ocala).
He also finished the year with 24 touchbacks.
“Zane was just a great weapon in all three phases for us, kickoffs, punts, and obviously field goals,” Johnson said. “A lot of people don’t think about when we had a really good defense it all started with Zane and those touchbacks. You’ve got to go 80 yards, so it’s a big part of what we did. We’re going to miss him but we’re super excited for him.”