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MINEOLA — While growing up in East Texas, Dawson Pendergrass always knew he wanted to be a Baylor Bear.

His dream came true on Wednesday, as the Mineola Yellowjacket signed to play college football with the Waco university.

“I love Baylor,” said Pendergrass, who signed during a ceremony held at the Mineola ISD Administration Building. “I love everything about Baylor. I love the people there. I love the recruits, the coaches. It is a big family environment. I feel like Baylor is a place that will make me a better athlete and will also make me a better person.”

Pendergrass started all four years at Mineola at several positions including running back, quarterback and defensive back, putting up incredible statistics.

As a Yellowjacket, Pendergrass rushed for 7,426 yards and 89 touchdowns on 817 carries. He was a threat as a receiver too, hauling in 72 catches for 1,199 yardsd and 16 TDs. At times he was called in to play quarterback, tossing seven touchdowns and 540 yards with 36 competions. The curly red-haired kid also had 10 two-point conversions.

On special teams he had four blocked kicks and defensively, he picked off 15 passes with six pick sixes.

That’s a total of 111 touchdowns for the Big Orange.

His senior season included: 3,184 yards rushing on 358 yards with 38 touchdowns.

While those statistics certainly are eye-popping, Mineola head coach Luke Blackwell noted what really stood out was the competitiveness and character of Pendergrass.

“When colleges and coaches come to recruit players they already know you can play the game,” Blackwell said. “They already know he’s a good player. The things they want to know is what kind of character they have, what type of work ethic, how committed. In 20 years of coaching, Dawson was the easiest one to sell to the college recruiters. He checks all of those boxes. He is high-character, he’s committed, he makes all the extra workouts, he’s always there. No issues in the classroom, great support system with mom and dad at home. All of those things make him the special player that he is, has been for us and will continue to be.”

While the school is out for the Christmas break, there was still a crowd for the ceremony from Pendergrass’ family, friends, teammates, coaches and fans.

Pendergrass credited all of their support in achieving his goal of having the opportunity to play college football.

“This feels amazing, but I can’t take all the credit,” Pendergrass said. “I have to give my thanks to God, my family, my friends and all the people who have ever pushed me to this point because it hasn’t been easy. There have been some down days but you just have to push through it. It is nice to have people in your life like that who can help you out.”

Baylor recruited recruited him as an athlete, but the Bears project Pendergrass as a running back.

While it was always going to Baylor, Pendergrass, who plans to major in business management, also considered Arkansas and Texas Tech, among others.