Fifteen months ago, Roxbury Prep senior Arlingcove Paul approached football coach Elijah Hodge,asking him to transfer to get the exposure needed to play at the Division 1 level.
Hodge convinced Paul to stay for his senior year and made one simple promise: he would do everything he could to make Paul’s dream a reality at Roxbury Prep.
Surrounded by his family, coaches and his student body Wednesday, Paul announced his commitment to continue his academic and athletic career at Georgetown University, where he will play football for Hoyas in the Patriot League.
The 6-foot-2-inch, 266-pound defensive tackle from Hyde Park is the first student at the school to commit to a Division 1 program, as well as the first for a football program founded in 2015.
“This is amazing for the city,” said Paul. “Being able to create that pathway not only for people in my school but for the people in the community and the city [that] it doesn’t matter where you go, you’re going to get found.
“I never would have imagined myself in this position, especially at such a prestigious school like Georgetown. But because I stayed at Roxbury Prep I trusted the process and trusted what the coaches were telling me [and] everything ended up working out. It was just an amazing process.”
Paul was a two-time captain and two-time MVP at Roxbury Prep. In 2019, he led the team with 30 tackles for a loss and also had six touchdowns, five forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries and a blocked field goal.
The Wolves finished 3-7 overall, but advanced to the Division 8 North semifinals, beating TechBoston, 8-0, in the quarterfinal round for the program’s first postseason win.
“To have a scholar-athlete get a Division 1 scholarship out of Roxbury Prep not needing to go to any academies or Catholic schools [but] right here in his home school in the heart of Boston, I am hoping that this shows not just to Roxbury Prep but other Boston city schools that the possibilities are here,” said Hodge.
“They just need to work hard to get the exposure and doing whatever is necessary. [Paul] did just that.”
Paul will be joining a Hoya program that finished 5-6 last fall.
Here is a list of Eastern Massachusetts recruits that announced their college commitments this week:
Football
Nick Baldini, St. John’s Prep (St. Lawrence)
Dante Barboza, Reading (Nichols)
Joe Brink, BC High (Bowdoin)
Matt Bulman, BB&N (Bentley)
Russ Canova, Danvers (Gettysburg)
Thomas Chenett, Cohasset (Assumption)
Terrance Cherry, Natick (St. Anselm)
Jack Connolly, Canton (Brown)
Gardner Cousins, Governor’s Academy (Stonehill)
Tim Cronin, Marblehead (Bowdoin)
Matt Crowley, St. John’s Prep (Tufts)
Cilian Davis, Plymouth South (St. Anselm)
Mason Davis, St. John’s Prep (New Hampshire)
Danny Donato, Dexter (Trinity)
Eric Dosenberg, New Bedford (Assumption)
Matt Duchemin, St. John’s Prep (Holy Cross)
Micye Duntin, Melrose (Bentley)
Anthony Fagan, St. John’s Prep (Stonehill)
Ademola Faleye, Brockton (UMass)
Michael Fionda, St. John’s Prep (St. Lawrence)
Devin Fortes, Brockton (Stonehill)
Shamus Florio, Andover (Yale)
Robbie Gallery, Canton (Endicott)
Thomas Gasbarro, Franklin (Western New England)
Zachary Goodwin, Catholic Memorial (Bentley)
Brandon Grundy, Haverhill (Marist)
Mitch Gonser, Milton Academy (Harvard)
Nolan Gunning, King Philip (Merrimack)
Kyle Hess, Bridgewater-Raynham (Stonehill)
Odahri Hibberts, Needham (Army)
Jakobi Holiday, Natick (Merrimack)
Vinnie Holmes, Mansfield (Bentley)
Colin Howe, Xaverian (Hamilton)
Cam Impemba, BB&N (Brown)
Khari Johnson, Suffield (Arkansas)
Mark Kassis, Central Catholic (Colby)
Frankie Kelley, BB&N (Amherst)
JP Kelter, Danvers (Gettysburg)
James Kernen, Plymouth South (Assumption)
Phil Koechling, Wayland (Bentley)
Tim Ladka, BC High (Bowdoin)
Martin Laham, Williston Northampton (Holy Cross)
Ezra Lombardi, Danvers (Hamilton)
Luke MacPhail, Dexter (Syracuse)
Cam Macro, Governor’s Academy (Stonehill)
Matt Maiona, Wellesley (Dickinson)
Nick Marciano, Mansfield (Bentley)
Brady Martin, Lawrence Academy (Rhode Island)
Mike McCough, Xaverian (St. Anselm)
Jack Nally, Franklin (Wesleyan)
Patrick O’Neill, Milton Academy (Brown)
Owen Palmieri, Franklin (Bates)
Arlingcove Paul, Roxbury Prep (Georgetown)
Liam Peck, Xaverian (Bentley)
Khyle Pena, Burlington (Maine)
Jason Portillo, Everett (Stonehill)
Barrett Pratt, Catholic Memorial (Endicott)
Will Prouty, Duxbury (BC)
Nick Pucillo, Acton-Boxborough (Bentley)
Tyler Reid, Needham (Assumption)
Kyle Santiago, Milton Academy (Brown)
Trey Sejour, Everett (Franklin Pierce)
Santana Silverio, Lawrence (St. Anselm)
Matt Sokol, Catholic Memorial (Merrimack)
Cooper Smith, St. John’s Prep (New Hampshire)
Justin Wenstrom, Xaverian (St. Anselm)
Evan Wertz, Franklin (WPI)
Deshawn Weston, Everett (Bridgewater State)
Jake Willcox, Milton Academy (Brown)
Paul Yiadom, Lawrence Academy (CCSU)
Baseball
Aidan Carey, BC High (Bowdoin)
Mike Dragon, BC High (Merrimack)
Luke Linnehan, BC High (Bates)
Patrick McConnell, Andover (Colby)
Pat Roche, BC High (BC)
Justin Wells, BC High (Tufts)
Boys’ basetkball
Suubi Nkugwa, Chelmsford (Worcester State)
Khai Smith, Cambridge (Clark)
Boys’ soccer
Lorenzo Mancini, Xaverian (Babson)
Cooper Robards, BC High (Hobart)
Girls’ soccer
Rachel Souza, Andover (Keene State)
Izzy Shih, Andover (Queen’s University)
Boys’ lacrosse
Sam Brosnan, Andover (Union)
Aidan Carroll, BC High (Georgetown)
Jason Curley, Braintree (St. Leo)
Michael Curran, BC High (Connecticut)
Riley Daly, Ipswich (UConn)
Teagan Gobiel, Andover (Franklin Pierce)
John Marshall, Andover (BU)
Liam McCarthy, BC High (St. Anselm)
Zach Swanson, BC High (RPI)
Aidan Sullivan, BC High (Salisbury)
Girls’ lacrosse
Georgia Parker, Natick (Merrimack)
Girls’ track/cross country
Gabbie Pagnini, Natick (UMass)
Girls’ swimming/diving
Julia Ali, Duxbury (Towson)
Emily Clements, Andover (Brown)
Maddie Kessel, Andover (Drew)
Emily Ma, Andover (NYU)
Golf
Mac Lee, Andover (BC)
Jack O’Donnell, BC High (Michigan)
Rugby
Lucas Sarker, Xaverian (Bryant)
Rowing
Aleah Davidsen, Andover (Brown)
Baringer Lovaas, BC High (George Washington)
George Lovaas, BC High (George Washington)
Here is a list of Eastern Massachusetts commits from the early signing period:
Football
Josh Atwood, Natick (UMass)
Stephen Brooks, Dexter (Georgetown)
Jay Brunelle, St. John’s of Shrewsbury (Notre Dame)
Eamonn Dennis, St. John’s of Shrewsbury (Michigan)
Nick Donatio, Central Catholic (Colby)
Jaden Dottin, Suffield Academy (Penn State)
Caleb Fauria, Bishop Feehan (Colorado)
Cole Finney, Hingham (Duke)
Hunter Lane, Phillips Andover (Holy Cross)
Cam Large, Nobles (Wisconsin)
Kevin Lemieux, Governor’s Academy (Syracuse)
Jack Mills, Dexter (Georgetown)
Parker McQuarrie, St. Paul’s (UCLA)
Duncan Moreland, Beverly (New Hampshire)
Ethan Mottinger, North Attleboro (UMass)
Kalel Mullings, Milton Academy (Michigan)
Nick Mueller, Central Catholic (Colby)
Andrew Nee, BB&N (UMass)
Bryan Pacific, Dexter (Holy Cross)
Joe Rivers, Bishop Fenwick (Holy Cross)
Brendan Tighe, Lowell (UNH)
Ozzy Trapilo, BC High (BC)
Zach Vaughan, Milton Academy (Wake Forest)
Zak Zinter, BB&N (Michigan)
Boys’ basketball
Tommy Andreae, Newton North (Macalaster)
Girls’ basketball
Brenna McDonald, Natick (Yale)
Girls’ volleyball
Nicole Abbott, Melrose (UMass)
Baseball
Aidan Hawley, Natick (Merrimack)
Girls’ soccer
Laney Ross, Natick (Vermont)
Boys’ lacrosse
Isaac Talino, Natick (Johns Hopkins)
Girls’ lacrosse
Paige Ghilani, Natick (Longwood)
Stephanie McAuliffe, Natick (Bentley)
Victoria Norchi, Natick (Dartmouth)
Caroline O’Connell, Natick (Assumption)
Boys’ track/cross-country
Bobby Carew, Milton (UMass)
Girls’ track/cross-country
Katie Duffy, Melrose (Syracuse)
Ava Duggan, Milton (Northeastern)
Grace Sullivan, Milton (Bryant)
Field hockey
Brooklyn Lamb, Natick (BU)
Boys’ swimming/diving
Ian Arnold, Natick (Miami-Ohio)
Girls’ swimming/diving
Katie Duffy, Melrose (Syracuse)
Gymnastics
Paige Bukowski, Andover (Wisconsin-Oshkosh)
Matthew Cormier, Milton (Penn State)
Karl Capen can be reached at [email protected]. Nate Weitzer contributed to this report.