On Monday, Ariton High School held a signing ceremony for senior Ian Senn, who accepted a preferred walk-on offer to play college football at Troy University.

Senn chose to accept the offer from Troy over scholarship offers from schools like Army and McPherson College.

“It’s real close to home and I always wanted to play (college football) in front of my family,” Senn said of his decision. “It took a lot of thinking but I felt like this was the best decision for me.”

Senn was a three sport athlete at Ariton, playing football, basketball and baseball. He earned All-Messenger and All-State honors this season in both football and basketball. He also helped the baseball team win a state championship just last week.

“Basketball was my favorite sport growing up and I always thought I was going to play college basketball,” Senn said. “As I got older, I just started loving football more and more as I played it.”

Senn was a star in all three phases of the game for the Purple Cats. He played quarterback, running back, receiver, defensive back, kick returner and even kicked PATs.

On offense, Senn rushed for 1,003 yards and eight touchdowns along with catching 14 passes for 157 yards and two touchdowns. He also completed 115-of-164 passes for 1,208 yards and 13 touchdowns. On defense, he tallied 66 tackles, five tackles-for-loss, four interceptions and one touchdown. He also returned 20 kickoffs for 310 yards and one touchdown. Senn will play receiver at Troy.

“I’ve met all the coaches and been around them a couple of times and I think they carry themselves really well,” Senn said of the Troy coaching staff. “I really love the way they’re running the program and am excited to get started there.”

Senn said that his time at Ariton has been like being with family.

“It’s meant the world to me,” Senn said of playing sports at Ariton. “I’ve been at Ariton since I was little and have been playing sports for as long as I can remember. Everyone is really support and everyone there is like family to me.”

Now, Senn said he’s excited to be adding some new family at Troy.

“My main goal is to play, getting on the field and doing my best for the team,” Senn said of his goals. “I’m looking forward to making new friends, it will be like a new family for me and making new brothers will be great.”