MT lands East TN ATH

Middle Tennessee head coach Rick Stockstill and offensive coordinator Tony Franklin appear to have a specific desire when it comes to reloading their receiving corps for the future.

Simply put, they have the need for speed.

With that in mind, it's easy to see why someone like Fulton High (TN) WR/ATH Zack Dobson caught their eye.

Dobson has speed for days - and now, he has a future home for that speed after committing to Stockstill and the Blue Raiders Friday afternoon.

Dobson took to Twitter to make his official announcement:

Dobson's journey to this point is certainly well documented.

This past December, the 17-year old's younger brother - Zaevion - was killed in a shooting spree incident. The story made national headlines after it was revealed that Zaevion was killed while protecting three young girls - shielding them from a hail of bullets with his own body. All three of those girls walked away from the incident injury free.

Zack and Zaevion had a dream that they could play college ball together. Zaevion was a talented player in his own right, and Zack was starting to field letters from colleges, especially after he landed on SportsCenter's Top 10 countdown with an impressive backflip catch.

With Zaevion gone, though, Zack now plays for the both of them, dedicating every game and every performance to Zaevion. Dobson even switched his jersey number to honor his fallen brother.

While the world around him was changing before he knew it, Dobson's recruitment also started picking up steam.

Soon after his brother was killed, Dobson received a scholarship offer to play football at Austin Peay. From there, multiple offers from FCS programs started flying through the door.

It wasn't until early June that Dobson received his first FBS level scholarship offer. That offer came from the Blue Raiders. The courtship from there may have been brief, but it was certainly effective.

In Dobson, the Blue Raiders get another shifty receiver who they can plug and play into many different areas of the field.

Dobson's athleticism is off the charts, too. The 5-foot-8, 170-pound prospect routinely clocks 40's in 4.5 seconds and under, and has a verified vertical leap of 41 inches. His motto is "Slow feet, don't eat."

It would be easy to say that this is a happy ending to an otherwise tragic story - but that would be selling Zack Dobson incredibly short. He's got a lot of work in front of him, but as he says, he's making it for two, so hard work shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone.

***For more on Zack Dobson and his commitment to Middle Tennessee, keep it locked in to GoMiddle.com.***