SW's Tanner signs with Air Force

By ADAM PRUIETT

adamp@nwfdailynews.com

SANTA ROSA BEACH - When it came to where he'd settle at college, each side of JuWayne Tanner's family had a rooting interest.

His mom, Sheila, has several members of her family with military backgrounds, and they wondered if he would follow that path. Meanwhile, his dad, Wayne, comes from a family where multiple members received athletic rides to college, and that opportunity was presented after he starred for the South Walton football team.

But instead of choosing one or the other, Tanner wedded the two by signing with Air Force.

"I'm kind of marrying the two by going to a military college on an athletic scholarship," said Tanner, whose brother Kelvin is currently in Iraq and whose sister Rachel served in the Navy. "I kind of satisfied both palettes."

Tanner is the school's first Division I signee for football.

The Daily News' reigning small school Offensive Lineman of the Year, Tanner also received attention from Ole Miss and Alabama State. He chose Air Force for academics as much as athletics.

"I'll be getting a world-class education," Tanner said. "It's top of the line as far as I'm concerned."

At Air Force, Tanner will play guard on offense, although at 6-foot-1 and 275 pounds, he doesn't have the prototypical towering size of a lineman. South Walton offensive line coach Carey Nick said that won't matter.

"What he lacked in height, he made up for in strength and athletic ability," Nick said.

Tanner will be sorely missed at South Walton, where he started on both the Seahawks' offensive and defensive lines for six straight seasons. Tanner also was a standout wrestler and weightlifter, finishing fifth at the Class A state meet in both sports this year.

"He was not only a centerpiece of the football program, he was definitely one of the centerpieces of the school," Nick said. "When you spoke of South Walton, you thought of JuWayne. He's a torch-bearer."

Air Force is coming off a surprising 9-4 campaign that included a second-place finish in the Mountain West Conference and a berth in the Armed Forces Bowl. Tanner is eager to help maintain that success and already knows what he'll be thinking when the Falcons' defense hits the field, and he won't have to join them.

 "This is what it's like to have a water break? Oh, I can breathe," he joked.