On Jan. 2, Jack Foley will pack up his things and head to the Palouse to begin his college football career.

Last week, the Mountain View wide receiver signed his letter of intent to play at Washington State while putting an end to a turbulent seven months of wondering what his football career would look like.

“It was a blessing,” Foley said. “To finally be able to sign it, completely close off my recruitment and be so 100% sure that I want to go somewhere and be part of a program.

“It was an interesting year, interesting season and offseason,” Foley added. “But the Lord has blessed me with some abilities to play this game and I trusted his process and it all worked out.”

Foley, who played for Mountain View while attending Trinity Lutheran in Bend, will graduate early to jumpstart his college career. He boasts one of the best careers on the gridiron in Mountain View history as a two-time Class 5A first-team all-state wide receiver.

This past fall, he finished with 1,082 yards on 52 receptions while scoring 16 touchdowns for a Cougar team that went undefeated during the regular season, won the Intermountain Conference and reached the 5A title game for the second-consecutive year.

After a junior season in which he caught 38 passes and scored 14 touchdowns, Foley became one of the top receiver prospects in the Northwest and was destined to play big-time college football.

But this past May, Foley fractured his spine while at a recruiting camp. Four surgeons in Bend told him that continuing his football career was not safe.

His recruitment cooled after that. The college coaches that were trying to convince him to join their programs began reaching out to wish him luck with his recovery and to let them know if anything changed.

“It was unfortunate but it’s a business,” Foley said. “These coaches and programs put in a lot of time and effort into a kid, and for them not to be able to play football in the future, it is a difficult decision for a coach. It was challenging. It was a test of my faith as well. I just trust the Lord’s plan that he had for me and it all ended up working out.”

After getting the OK from doctors in Los Angeles and going through a rehabilitation process, Foley was back on the field for his final season.

He started posting his highlights from the season on social media and began reaching back out to coaches to let them know that he was back. A couple games into the season, the recruiting process began to pick up again.

For a brief time, Foley was committed to play in the ACC at Wake Forest. But once Washington State offered him a scholarship, he could not turn down the chance to play for a competitive team in a pass-happy offense while being closer to his family.

“I think they are building something special and I want to be a part of it,” Foley said of WSU. “I have an amazing support system from family, friends, girlfriend, teammates. Being only eight hours away and having those guys be able to support me closer to home, make it easier for my family to come to games, played a big part in it.”

Between the 5A and 4A classifications, 10 additional Central Oregon players landed on the state’s first and second teams.

Mountain View junior Cody Calvert was a two-way all-stater, named to the first team as both an offensive and defensive lineman. Junior running back Angel Valenzuela and senior wideout Jordan Best landed on the 5A second team.

Summit had a pair of first-teamers, with junior Max Shepherd selected as 5A’s top kicker. Senior Marco Larsen was a first-team linebacker and second-team offensive lineman.

Senior defensive lineman Alex Nevarov and senior defensive back Culter Hobin landed on the second-team defense for the Storm.

Crook County had three players named to the 4A all-state teams. Senior Garrett Stefanek was a first-team linebacker and second-team offensive lineman. Senior Gabe Love was a first-team punter and a second-team kicker. Senior Preston Duke landed on the second-team offensive line.