MONETA, Va. – On Friday nights he put the fear in the heart of every defense he faced. Grayson Overstreet was a huge piece to Staunton River's success, rushing for over 9,000 yards and nearly 150 touchdowns as a Golden Eagle earning 2016 1st and 10 Player of the Year honors as a sophomore.
“It’s been a long ride, feel like I’ve been playing a long time,” said Overstreet.
The 6-foot-2 power back decided to take his talents to the next level, Richmond University. But this Spider didn’t feel comfortable making his web.
“After a year of being there, I just felt like maybe it wasn’t my fit and didn’t feel like it was home. So I called T.J.”
He’s referring to T.J. Tester another dominant force from Staunton River and lifelong friend, who had a season under his belt at Emory and Henry.
“I said ‘Hey man, what do you think your coach would think if I transferred.?’ He said, ‘are you serious?’ and I said, ‘Yeah I’m pretty serious,’” Overstreet said.
“T.J. Tester said ‘Grayson is no really happy at Richmond.’ And I said, ‘Well we can make him happy at Emory,’” said Emory and Henry head football coach Curt Newsome.
“He called me back right away and said ‘he’d be pretty happy if you came’”, recounted Overstreet.
Thus the door was open for this Golden Eagle to soar once again in Southwest, Virginia. He spent most of 2019 on defense until the final game of the season against Ferrum, when this Wasp laid the sting. He rushed for an ODAC and school record 324 yards.
In January, Newsome announced that Overstreet would be in the backfield permanently.
“We decided after that game that we needed them both in the backfield so that’s our plan moving forward,” said Newsome.
A dynamic duo, teammates and lifelong friends ready to create quite the buzz in the Wasps backfield-- in due time.
Another Staunton River product will also be in the running backs room when they return to action, freshman Mykah English.