Andrews High’s Dorsey signs to play football at Erskine College

ANDREWS — After starting out as a quarterback to not even playing in 2020, Andrews wide receiver/strong safety Rodshaun “Tonk” Dorsey will play at the next level.

Dorsey signed as a wide receiver for Erskine College football in a March 16 ceremony at Andrews High School.

Dorsey was only 5-foot-10 his freshman season when he played quarterback. Dorsey didn’t play his sophomore season in 2020. Then before the 2021 season, Andrews head football coach Scott Durham noticed Dorsey had grown.

“I saw him walking down the hall and he had a hood on and he came in at the end of the year to take an exam,” Durham said. “And I’m like, ‘Who is this kid?’ I’m like, ‘Hey, take your hood off.’ He took his hood off and I was like, ‘Holy moly!’ He was probably 6-1, 6-2 at that point.”

Dorsey came out for the football team again in spring 2021 but had to play a lot of quarterback again due to lack of depth at the position because of an injury to another quarterback.

“He didn’t get the reps at receiver that he needed that junior year,” Durham said. “… At some point, the light came on, because all of the sudden he just became the guy that was just here. He was here every time the weight room was open. He had a great summer of 7-on-7. I knew about the end of June he was probably going to have a pretty good year for us if we could get him the ball.”

The Yellow Jackets did just that, as Dorsey broke a school record for touchdown receptions in a season in 2022. Dorsey helped lead Andrews to a 9-3 overall record and a 3-1 Region 8-AA record in 2022 that included an appearance in the second round of the AA playoffs before falling at Barnwell, 36-22.

“I still kick myself in the playoff game at Barnwell when we had the ball down there inside the 5-yard-line late in the game, and I should’ve thrown one up to him at some point and didn’t,” Durham said.

Dorsey said he also had an offer from Savannah State, but Erskine, which is in Due West, a city about 45 miles south of Greenville, felt more like home.

“Erskine just feels like another Andrews, basically,” Dorsey said. “It feels like a hometown with nothing to do, but that makes (it) feel like home again.”