Rosewood’s Peacock Signs Francis Marion | Sports

The midfielder received several offers before finally setting his sights on Francis Marion. He recently signed a national letter of intent to become a Patriot.

Peacock said he already has ties to the Patriots because Francis Marion assistant soccer coach Kevin Martin used to coach Peacock’s travel soccer team, the Wayne County United Soccer Club.

“I’m really happy about it,” Peacock said. “I went through a period where I didn’t know if I wanted to play college football. An ID camp came up and my mom told me to do it. I went and did it and got two offers from it, ended up with my travel team getting another offer from her.

“I went to Francis Marion for my old football coach, who is now an assistant coach there. He helped me get in there and that’s why I go to Francis Marion now.”

Peacock also visited Francis Marion and said it wasn’t just the football team that made him want to spend the next four years in Florence, S.C. He also has plans for what he wants to do after college.

“Overall, it was very good. They have good academic stature there, which is what I wanted. I want to go into biological engineering, and they had that there along the lines of it, so I’m going to go there and transfer after my four years are up,” Peacock said. “The football team was amazing. Their level of play there was absolutely amazing.

“My dad works with Pfizer, so what I plan to do is hopefully get a job working with him for medical engineering and help build things for them.”

He said signing a letter of intent to play college football would not have happened without the support of his mother, who encouraged him to attend the scouting camp that led to his initial offers to play college football.

“I went through a phase where I didn’t think I was good enough to play, while everyone around me was saying you’re great at it and you can do it. I didn’t believe in myself,” Peacock said. “One day I sat down with my mother and she talked to me very seriously about it. She said, “you can do it, I know you and you just have to do it.”

Peacock started playing in the second grade. He also played baseball and basketball, but quickly fell in love with football and soon had his whole family involved in the game or watching.

“I decided around the third grade that football was for me. No one else in my family had ever played football. My dad was new to it, my brothers were new, so I brought them into it,” Peacock said. “Now they love it, we get up almost every Sunday morning to watch the Premiere League now.”

Rosewood head coach Eddie Maldonado said Peacock was willing to play wherever he was needed and never stopped working on his game to become a vital player for the Eagles.

“I could put him anywhere and he never complained. He was willing to do whatever we asked him to do,” Maldonado said. “He’s extremely versatile and that’s one of the keys to his game.

“Watching the maturity, watching the work and effort to be his own player, overcome injuries and become an impact player was just super exciting.”

A four-year starter, Peacock helped the Eagles to 68 wins on the football field and three straight conference titles, including the Eagles’ first conference title in 19 years in 2021.

The Eagles made four trips to the NC High School Athletic Association 1A playoffs with Peacock on the roster.

Rosewood was the regional runner-up in 2021 and 2022 and reached the state championship game last season for the first time in program history.

Peacock spent his first two seasons playing football with his brother, Benjamin Peacock, and said he will always cherish the time they spent playing high school football.

“My first two years, I was with my brother. He was the goalie and he kind of brought me into the team and helped me become better than I already was,” Peacock said.

However, that success did not come easily.

Peacock had to overcome injuries during his freshman and sophomore years, but persevered to help the Eagles reach some historic heights during his time at Rosewood, and is now ready for the next chapter of his athletic career .

“I went through shin splints my freshman year and pulled my hip flexor my sophomore year, and then I made it to all-state junior year, which was the best thing ever,” Peacock said. “I had a great time playing football with this team.”