With his signature on a National Letter of Intent to play football for the North Alabama Lions, Gulf Shores senior Tyler Burkett marked another milestone after his victory against cancer.

Just over a year after he started chemotherapy treatments to battle Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, the 6-foot-3, 260-pound offensive lineman sealed the continuation of his football career at the next level.

Burkett worked his way back to Gulf Shores’ practice fields in August then got a cancer-free designation on Sept. 23, 2024, before he made his season debut against St. Paul’s on Oct. 4, 2024.

He announced his first college offer from Miles College on Feb. 12 and committed the following day. Burkett added an offer from LaGrange on Feb. 15 before he announced his offer to North Alabama on March 11. After he decomitted from the Miles Bears, Burkett revealed his pledge to the North Alabama Lions the following day before he officially signed with the school in Florence on April 2.

North Alabama’s 2025 spring roster features another Dolphin state champion in sophomore linebacker Kingston Lowe who was crowned a Class 5A champion alongside Burkett in 2023.

The Lions’ lineup also includes redshirt sophomores Josiah Hixon and Christian Burkhalter from Spanish Fort with another Toro set to take the campus this summer. Bishop Burkhalter signed with North Alabama during the February window following his final season at Spanish Fort where he walked into the state record books with a 1-yard punt return for a touchdown.

Below is a sampling of other local athletes who have made their college commitments.

Baldwin County Tigers – EJ Jones (West Alabama football), Brooke Jones (Huntingdon soccer), Chloe Burford (Mobile soccer), Sami McMahill (Mobile soccer)

With 64 total tackles, including 24 for loss, six sacks, one forced fumble and one pass breakup, defensive lineman EJ Jones was an all-state honorable mention and signed with the West Alabama Tigers in February. He’ll be set to play for head coach Scott Cochran and D-Line coach Damion Square.

Brooke Jones will be heading to Huntingdon as Chloe Burford and Sami McMahill will remain teammates at the next level after they signed with the Mobile Rams in April. Key factors to the Tigers’ 12-5-2 record and No. 8 ranking in Class 6A, the trio all played different positions and served different roles. Jones is a co-captain on defense, Burford is another co-captain and played center midfielder as McMahill has lined up at striker.

St. Michael Cardinals – Jeb Bathrick (Buena Vista tennis)

History was made in Fairhope as Jeb Bathrick became the first St. Michael Cardinal to sign a National Letter of Intent to play college tennis during a March 26 ceremony.

Last season’s Class 4A-5A Section 1 No. 2 runner-up sealed his commitment to join the Beuna Vista Beavers in California after his time at St. Michael Catholic.

Fairhope Pirates – Blake Westry (West Alabama baseball), Jaden Champion (Coastal Alabama-South basketball)

Blake Westry is set to rejoin forces with former Pirate teammate Nolan Phillips at West Alabama who has represented the Tigers as a two-time Gulf South Conference Freshman of the Week selection this season. Through 54 plate appearances, Westry carried a .400 batting average according to MaxPreps stats to go along with 12 RBIs and an on-base plus slugging percentage of 1.081.

Similarly, Jaden Champion will remain teammates with Jackson Robertson when they suit up for the Coastal Alabama-South Coyotes. The pair most recently helped Fairhope to its first Class 7A Final Four berth since 2020.

Spanish Fort Toros – Sawyer Wilson (Millsaps football)

With 959 rushing yards and 59 receiving yards, Sawyer Wilson surpassed 1,000 total yards for his senior season on The Hill as he helped the Toros to their 17th-straight postseason. His career totals included 3,076 rushing yards and 27 touchdowns as he collected four all-county nods.

Gulf Shores Dolphins – Anna-Leigh Price (Mobile softball)

Junior Anna-Leigh Price got an early jump on her college commitment with a pledge to play for the Mobile Rams after her time with the Gulf Shores Dolphins.

Thanks to 123 strikeouts over 135.2 innings pitched, Price ranked 10th in Alabama on MaxPreps’ state leaderboard entering this weekend’s contests. Price had also logged six wins in the circle with a .976 fielding percentage according to MaxPreps stats. Offensively through 32 games, she had registered a .376 batting average with 35 hits, including 8 doubles and 5 home runs, and 32 RBIs on top of a 1.080 on-base plus slugging percentage.

Orange Beach Makos – Austin Beck (West Alabama football), Sanders Semiklose (West Alabama football)

A pair of Makos will keep swimming together as Austin Beck and Sanders Semiklose will help fill out West Alabama’s roster after the pair earned all-state honorable mentions.

The Tigers’ 2024 lineup also included Baldwin County athletes including fellow Orange Beach alumnus LaMarr Nelson, Brendon Byrd from Gulf Shores, Tyler Hamby and Danarius Yearling from Foley, Owen Vander Wal from Fairhope and Antonio Williams from Bay Minette.

A tight end and defensive end, Beck collected 27 total tackles over 8 games according to MaxPreps stats which included 5 tackles for loss, 1 sack, 1 forced fumble and 4 quarterback hurries.

Semiklose handled the punting and kicking duties for Orange Beach and racked up 17 touchbacks on 43 kickoffs to go along with 393 yards on 17 punts for an average of 23.1 yards per punt with a long of 58. He also connected on all 31 point-after tries as well as 5 field goals, with a long of 43, for 46 total points.