Scottie Brewington Jr. wasn’t the biggest player on the 2008 Richmond state championship football team, but he was able to make the most out of his size as a senior.

The 5-foot-8, 160-pound Brewington was a backup defensive back as a junior, but this season became the starting free safety in the Raiders’ secondary. Now, Brewington will move into the secondary at Elizabeth City State after signing a letter of intent with Vikings on Friday.

“It feels good to be able to continue my football career and play at the collegiate level,” Brewington said. “I thought my football career was going to end here, but I guessed I did enough for schools to be interesting in me. To have a chance to play at the next level is going to be exciting.”

Brewington said he was contemplating at attending NCAA Division III North Carolina Wesleyan College in Rocky Mount. According to Brewington, he decided to go to ECSU after having a conversation with head coach Waverly Tillar, who told him he was interested in giving him a full scholarship.

Brewington said Tillar heard about him from teammate Deion Green’s father, who is a friend of Tillar’s. Another reason Brewington elected to go to the CIAA school was because other people, like teammate Gabe Love, were going to ECSU. Love, signed with the Vikings earlier this month.

“As a team this past year, we all considered ourselves to be like brothers, and it is good to know that I will have somebody that I’m familiar with going down there with me. We’re going to be playing on the same team, and hopefully both of us will do well.”

While Love is slated to maintain his role as a receiver, Brewington said he was told by the Vikings’ coaching staff that he may have to switch to being a cornerback.

As a sophomore, Brewington played corner on the junior varsity football team, before being moved to free safety his last two years.

Raiders coach Paul Hoggard also believes Brewington can succeed in his new role in the secondary after the hard work he put in to become a solid player.

“Scottie is a player, who has really come a long ways,” Hoggard said. “When he came over here, he was a little tiny thing, who wasn’t very strong and didn’t run very well. But he worked very hard to make himself into a very good player. Now, he has very good speed. He worked hard in the weight room to make himself bigger and stronger. He was a big reason for our success on defense this past year. He may have been small, but he could deliver a big blow whether in the secondary or on special teams.”

Brewington’s 75 tackles ranked him seventh on the Raiders’ defense. He said his best game was in Richmond’s 30-22 state semifinal victory over Charlotte Independence, which sent the Raiders to the championship game. Brewington finished with a team-leading six solo tackles in the contest.

“I felt like the Indy game, I probably shocked some people, and proved some things to people that may have doubted me,” Brewington said.

Brewington plans to bring that same attitude over to college and show people he also can succeed at the next level.

“There’s nothing Scottie can’t do if he puts his mind to it,” Hoggard said. “The thing he has is great character, and a team is going to win a lot of ball games with a player like that.”

n Contact sports reporter Corey Davis at 997-3111, ext. 44; e-mail cdavis@yourdailyjournal.com