VALDOSTA — University of the Cumberlands head wrestling coach Chris Fleeger doesn’t attend all of his recruits’ signings.

But Fleeger felt the need to be at Valdosta High School’s Performing Arts Center on Thursday to offer up support to Miles Parramore as the Wildcat wrestler signed a scholarship to compete for the Patriots next season.

Parramore has been a rock in Valdosta’s wrestling program, both on and off the mat, and it’s led to an opportunity to continue his career at the college level.

“It’s exciting,” Parramore said Thursday. “I’m honestly a little nervous. It’s a little weird I’m about to end this, what all I’ve known is high school. Obviously, I’m about to end this and start something completely new.

“So, a little exciting, a little nervous, but bittersweet.”

Parramore placed second at state at 132 as a senior at Valdosta, and he won the 2014 GISA individual state championship in the 106-pound weight class as a freshman at Valwood.

It’s more than the raw ability that has made Parramore a coach favorite everywhere he’s gone.

“Miles was a team captain for us this year and a special wrestler because his work ethic,” said Valdosta wrestling coach Benjy Scarbor. “He always wants to find a way to win, and when he’s drilling, he’s working harder than anybody else in the room.

“Some times you’ll catch the other guys watching him and Trey Walton wrestling each other and drill with each other just because they’re going at such a high pace.”

Fleeger has already seen a lot of the same qualities in Parramore that Scarbor does.

Formerly a coach at Darton State College, Fleeger held a camp in Valdosta last summer, where he had the opportunity to speak with, and wrestle against, Parramore.

Having recognized Parramore’s name from tournament results, Fleeger was familiar with the budding star.

Once he had a chance to meet Parramore in person, Fleeger knew he was interested in bringing him in at Cumberland.

“I’d seen Miles’ name in a lot of the results, but it’s always better when you get to see a kid on a more personal level…” Fleeger said. “I was really impressed and wanted to bring his family up on a trip…

“I really liked beyond the results. The results were obviously good, you know, state runner up, things like that. That’s good, but we liked some of the other things, with how he handled adversity, how he handled himself. He’s a great young man, really.”

Parramore has grown up in the city of Valdosta, and it’s as he said, “all I know.”

But Parramore will step out of his comfort zone and travel more than 500 miles to begin the next step of his journey on the University of Cumberlands’ campus in Williamsburg, Kentucky.

Along with the cooler climate, hilly terrain and fewer bugs than South Georgia, Cumberlands offered Parramore an atmosphere that made him feel at home.

“All the people there were super nice,” Parramore said. “They kind of just accepted me and they just took me around the campus and everything and showed me all the ends and outs.

“I just got a good vide from the place. It felt good. It felt right.”

Fleeger is entering his fourth season as the head coach at the University of the Cumberlands, and with the expected addition of Parramore in the starting lineup at the 141-pound division, he sees the Patriots immediately competing for an NAIA national championship.

“We’ve built an amazing team,” Fleeger said. “”We’re a top 10 team right now. We’ll really contend for a national title next year.

“I think he’s going to make an immediate impact. I think if you put him in a great environment, and put him with great partners, and give him that support system he’s used to, I think he’s got a lot better wrestling ahead of him.”

Derrick Davis is the sports editor at the Valdosta Daily Times.