Westward Ho, Rylan

Before family and teammates Thursday afternoon, JHS senior Rylan Chalmers signed a letter of intent to play basketball for Wayland Baptist University.

WBU, located in Plainview and nicknamed the Pioneers, and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi were two of the schools Chalmers considered. Chalmers received a tryout with the Pioneer coaching staff and liked what he felt about everything at WBU.

"They were just great people," Chalmers said. "It had a nice spiritual feel much like home. The whole town was like that, which appealed to me."

Chalmers said the WBU staff made him no promises saying he had a spot on the JV but he would be considered for a varsity position.

"I love basketball too much. I felt I still needed to play," Chalmers offered. "I guess I could have walked on at (A&M Corpus) but I'd rather take something guaranteed vs. something that's not."

Chalmers said it will be tough to move on with the close knit team the Tigers had this year but staying together will be something the squad can always do."

Tiger Coach Aaron Bass said he was proud of Rylan and WBU was a "great institution with a great program"

"I'm going to be proud to see what he does moving forward," Bass said.