Today is the day when young men across the country break the hearts or make the offseason of fans of colleges throughout the nation.

Nearly two dozen players from the Miss-Lou could sign college scholarships over the next two weeks, but several are expected to sign their national letters of intent today.

One of them, Trinity Episcopal’s Stevan Ridley, is ready to take on the challenges of college life.

Ridley committed to LSU last April, three months after initially committing to Ole Miss.

“I wasn’t going to wait around to go Division I,” Ridley said. “Ole Miss popped up real quick and made me an offer, and I didn’t feel like I could turn down a Division I offer. I didn’t expect to get offers from Divison I schools.

“I committed to them, and then I went to Junior Day at LSU and Coach (Les) Miles asked me if I wanted to play for the Tigers, and I couldn’t turn them down.”

Ridley went on to rewrite the record books at Trinity his senior season, rushing for 3,089 yards in leading the Saints to the third state championship in school history.

While Ridley was able to get college recruiters and recruiting services off his back by declaring his collegiate intentions early, it hasn’t lessened his many detractors, but he says he isn’t concerned about those who say he’s not an SEC-caliber player.

“From the beginning since I’ve been playing at Trinity, everybody’s been saying I wasn’t good enough to get to an SEC school. They say I’m not fast enough. I’ve proved them wrong on that already. Look who recruited me. Now, they’re no telling how it will go. I could get injured, or I could go up there and have a great career, but people will always talk. I’ve just got to go out there and let things come to me.”

Ridley’s brother, Chad, went to Delta State on a football scholarship after graduating Trinity in 2002, and finished out his career at Central Missouri State this past season.

Ridley’s mother, Carolyn, is happy to have had sons blessed with such athletic ability.

“I’m very proud, but I’m more grateful,” she said. “Gratitude comes to my mind when I think of my sons’ abilities more than pride, because I think their talents are a blessing from God. I’m just grateful Stevan’s stayed on track.”

Carolyn said she made sure with both of her sons that the college choice would ultimately be their decision.

“I don’t think it’s fair to them for me to choose their college for them,” she said. “They’re both very headstrong and know what they want. I helped weed out a few, but left the final decision up to them.”

Ironically, one of the colleges she had initially scratched was LSU.

“I felt like going to a huge school like that, coming from a school like Trinity, would be a difficult adjustment,” she said. “But when he went to LSU in the spring for Junior Day and I met the coaches and met Coach Miles, they won me over.”

With several months to go before time to report to campus in Baton Rouge, Ridley said his focus is on finishing out school and building strength and speed.

“I’m not going to play baseball this year,” Ridley said. “It’ll be the first time I haven’t played. It’s a step towards my goal. I want to say I started at LSU and that starts with work ethic. I’m going to run track and run with Coach (Larry) Wesley at the high school. I’m going to start lifting as soon as basketball’s over. Chad will be here, so that’ll be a big help. He was a big motivation to me this summer. I worked harder than I ever have. He’ll be here helping me out.”