April 27, 2020

Santa Monica, CA

The Santa Monica College Football team is excited to announce two more student-athletes have announced their transfer intentions – including one Division 1 Football Scholarship.

Dajone Averett, a Sophomore Wide Receiver, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania has signed a Division 1 Scholarship with Northern Arizona University.  The Lumberjacks are coached by Chris Ball and in addition to playing their Big Sky Conference games this year, they will open the season at Arizona State on September 3^rd. 

Averett was a two-sport athlete at Santa Monica College while also competing on the Track Team in the 110 High Hurdles.  He was a Two-Time Conference Champion and finished in the Top 5 in the state both years for SMC.  As a Freshmen on the football team, Averett was an All-SCFA Pacific League 1^st Team Selection as a Kick Returner.

Head Football Coach Kelly Ledwith said, "It is rare to have a player with the size and speed that Dajone brought to our football team.  It was fun to watch him work to get better at practice every day.  Dajone was defensive player in high school so switching to offense at the JC level and making it to a D1 school is extremely hard to do, but he got it done.  He will be really fun to watch over the next two years at NAU."

Also transferring from the football program to four-year schools are Tyler Cater and Tucker LaRue.

Cater, a two-year starting defensive back from Gardena H.S., will be transferring to Ottawa University this fall.  He played on the 2017 and 2019 SMC Football Teams under Coach Ledwith.  As a sophomore Cater, was second in the SCFA Pacific League in Pass Breakups with 9 on the season.  He added 1 Fumble Recover, 2.5 tackles for loss and 22 total tackles on the season. 

When asked about Cater, Ledwith said, "Cater was a true battler for us.  You could count on Cater to show up every single day and give it everything he had.  His freshman year he was working a graveyard shift and would get off work and come to campus for 6:30am English class.  Not many people would have been able to see that through to the end.  I can't wait to follow his career with Ottawa, they will love having him on their team just as I did."