Vinson ends up right where he wants to be at Indiana Wesleyan

Simon Vinson, graduating senior at Colon High School, will be a legacy student-athlete.

Both of his parents were members of the college basketball teams at Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, Ind. Now, Vinson will be continuing his academic and football careers with the Wildcats. He signed his way into college in February with the NAIA school.

“Pretty happy it’s done and taken care of, it was a long process over the span of two and a half years,” Vinson said. “It’s nice to have it put away, I don’t have to worry about it anymore and it’s set in stone. It’s somewhere I want to be, so that makes it a lot nicer, too.”

Vinson piled up all kinds of stats while quarterback of the Colon Magi. They won a ton of games with him under center, although that rarely happened as the Magi snapped it almost exclusively in the shotgun formation in 8-player football. Vinson is used to winning football games and that should be no problem at the next level, either, it looks like.

Indiana Wesleyan finished with an 11-2 record last season, ultimately losing to Northwestern College (Iowa) in the football semifinals for NAIA. Prior to that, the Wildcats won seven games in 2021 as well.

Though he knew Indiana Wesleyan was where he wanted to be, Vinson wasn’t entirely sure he would end up with the Wildcats. The recruiting process can be a tough one, especially with football.

“There for a while I did not expect to end up here,” Vinson said of Indiana Wesleyan. “Coming out of the season, they weren’t showing me too much interest. But after I went on one of my visits there, they offered me and I was surprised and very excited about it.”

Vinson has made several trips to the IWU campus for visits. It’s a place he has a comfort zone for now, especially with the Wildcat coaching staff ultimately deciding they wanted him to be a part of the team.

Former Colon football coach Robbie Hattan said he has high praise for Vinson on and off the football field.

“Simon Vinson is hands down one of the most accomplished quarterbacks from our area,” Hattan said. “What he has done at Colon and the stuff he did are remarkable.”

Vinson loves a challenge. He knows getting on campus and making an impact, as a freshman, won’t be easy. But he is willing to put in the work and do what is necessary to stand out among the crowd. Hattan said he believes Vinson will do the best he can.

“He is going to have to work his butt off down at a dynamic program like IWU but I don’t expect anything less from him,” Hattan said.

Back in the classroom, Vinson’s interest in his studies might surprise some. Football players are often labeled as meatheads, for lack of a better term, but Vinson shines through that. He’s a member of the National Honor Society and clearly has a direction with his studies — he’s earned a better than 4.0 grade point average and will finish as the valedictorian for his senior class.

Speaking of studies, Vinson said he wants to explore pre-med once he steps on the IWU campus. He plans to attend the chiropractic school. A handful of years ago, Vinson said he would often times find himself watching chiropractic videos on YouTube. This resulted in him wanting to explore that realm and he’s excited to begin studying for it in the fall.

Vinson has been to the IWU campus a handful of times, so he is familiar with the layout. Many students can be overwhelmed once they get on campus, but Vinson said he’s not concerned about fitting in right away, because of the comfortable awareness he has at IWU.

But, he also knows there will be challenges. IWU is obviously much bigger than Colon, but he feels adjusting to that will be no problem. Vinson said he will miss the culture at Colon, one he helped build during his four years of school there.

“I like the small-school atmosphere,” he said. “I think it helps you build stronger relationships with people.”

Now, he is ready to finish his last few months as a high school student. The next journey will begin later this year with Vinson as a collegiate athlete.

This article originally appeared on Sturgis Journal: Vinson ends up right where he wants to be at Indian Wesleyan