After injury wipes out most of senior season, North Murray’s McDade lands at Gardner-Webb

Published 9:30 am Wednesday, February 23, 2022

If he hadn’t torn his ACL four games into his senior season of football at North Murray High School, wide receiver Michael McDade believes he might have kept drawing recruiting interest from bigger college programs

It’s hard not to see why, with McDade piling up 27 receptions for 483 yards and 10 touchdowns in just those four games.

McDade is just glad to have found a home at a college that wants him. McDade is committed to Gardner-Webb University, where he’s been offered a spot as a preferred walk-on.

“There was a few colleges that said they were interested in the summer and after the first couple of games, but, after I got hurt, they started going away,” McDade said. “Gardner-Webb really stuck with me through all that. I’m truly grateful that they gave me the opportunity.”

Gardner-Webb is a Division I Football Championship Subdivision program in Boiling Springs, North Carolina. In the Runnin’ Bulldogs’ wide receivers room, McDade joins Dalton High School’s Karim Page, who signed with Gardner-Webb earlier this month.

McDade said he played with and against Page in youth sports.

“It’ll be nice to have somebody there that I know to compete with,” McDade said.

Before McDade gets back on the field to begin preparing for college football, he’ll let that torn ACL finish healing.

McDade sustained the injury in a late September game against Sonoraville. The 6-foot-4-inch receiver missed all of what would have been his senior basketball season, and he said he’ll be cleared by doctors for more activity soon.

“I’m going to be able to start cutting again next month,” McDade said. “The process is going pretty well.”

As a preferred walk-on, McDade won’t have a scholarship to start his time at Gardner-Webb. Once he fully heals, McDade said he’s devoted to earning his spot on the team.

“Just watch out,” McDade said.