Signings

The date of Dec. 17, 2025 was a great day to be a Jeff.On that date, two Jeff athletes, Dom Joe and Nic Smith, signed to continue their athletic careers.Joe will be playing baseball for Briar Cliff College and Smith football for Concordia.Briar Cliff coach Joshua Culliver noted Joe will be an ‘ultimate leader and ultimate competitor.’“What we saw when we looked at him was he will go out and compete to the best of his ability and also make sure there will be people with him as he is competing to the best of his abilities,” Culliver said. ‘He will make sure everyone around him will also be successful. That is kind of the guys we want to keep building the program with, getting to the top and winning the conference championship and being at the top with guys like Dominic.” Specific skill sets Culliver noted that Joe possesses is his arm strength.“We got to see how he uses all his pitches against left and right handed hitters and the arm strength is something we see as great potential. He throws hard and has the secondary pitches as well to keep batters guessing what is next,” Culliver said.Last season for FHS, Joe had a .330 batting average to lead the team in hitting and on the mound had a 8.77 Earned Run Average, third on the squad, according to MaxPreps. Joe led the Jeffs in strikeouts with 31 last year.Joe noted that from the beginning of seeing Briar Cliff’s academic and sporting facilities, he knew this was the college for him.“I liked the baseball and academic programs they provided,” Joe said. “I knew I really, really liked it.”Joe hopes to enter college in exercise science and go into physical therapy after college graduation.Joe will start his senior baseball season March 28 at York.For Nic Smith, Concordia was a great fit for him. He will be playing football next year for Concordia and then plans to walk on the track team specializing in long and triple jump.“They were the first school interested in me,” Smith said of his choice of schools. “I really liked the coach, a great guy, talked to him a lot. I really liked the campus, already had a couple visits already and I really liked the campus and everything. They have a nice field and good team, too.”Smith hopes to bring a strong work ethic to the team.“I will do what coaches ask me to do and play my role until it is my turn to be in the spotlight if they want me there,” Smith said. Smith is looking to follow in the footsteps of his parents, Jerry and Patty Smith, and go into education. Jerry is the assistant principal and activities director at Fairbury High School and his mother is a former administrator and current teacher at Fairbury.“I talked to their education department and it is a good place for me,” Smith said, noting he wants to go into secondary education with an endorsement in math.Last season for Fairbury in football, Smith averaged 26.6 yards per game rushing (second on the team) and had 239 yards this past season. He averaged 9.0 yards a game receiving with nine catches on the year.Smith led FHS in all purpose yards with 480 total yards, averaging 53.3 yards per game.

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