Grant Quinlan really enjoyed his trip to the Spring Hill College campus in Mobile, Ala., when looking over different schools where he might continue to play soccer once he graduates from Catholic High School in May.

CHS soccer coach Brandon Francis thinks it will be a perfect fit for his senior midfielder, who on Monday signed a national letter of intent to play for the Badgers, becoming the first boys’ soccer player from CHS to do so. Spring Hill coach Tim Brooks runs a system similar to what Francis has instituted at Catholic High School.

“Whenever he went to visit, he was able to get out on the field, and he felt comfortable,” said Francis. “We didn’t just stick with one system. I think it worked for him. I think that’s one of the main reasons he chose them.”

Quinlan, a Louisiana High School Soccer Coaches Association first-team All-State selection in 2012, also had offers to play at Louisiana College and Millsaps College, said his father, Jason Quinlan.

“(Spring Hill coaches) saw one of my highlight videos, and we started emailing,” said Grant Quinlan. “I went for a visit and liked it. It went from there.”

Quinlan said the Spring Hill coaches talked to him about playing midfield and said he has a chance to play as a freshman. The Badgers have no seniors or juniors and have 14 freshmen and six or seven sophomores on the spring roster, said Quinlan.

“The program’s going to get better and better,” he said. “I talked to their coach. He had a real good plan for what he was going to do.”

It’s a position with which he’s familiar after seeing the CHS program develop over his career.

“From the start of my freshman year I never thought it would be where it is today,” said Quinlan. “We had I think five All-State players (including second-teamers Jordan Durand, Jude Frederick, JT Gibson and Dustin Romero). I never thought that would happen.”

Though he felt the Panthers should have advanced beyond the quarterfinals, he was pleased overall with how his high school career went. Francis sees even better things in Quinlan’s future.

“I think he’s already at a maturity level to play there,” said Francis. “For his career he had 63 goals and 63 assists, and his sophomore and senior years he sat out half the year with injuries, so he easily could have been in the 100s. His technical ability with the ball and his ability to transition from defense to offense (are strengths).”

After speaking with Brooks at length, Francis said, he expects Quinlan to shore up areas he needs to work on.

Quinlan’s used to hard work, after breaking his leg and missing six games of the high school football season in the fall. His dad said the CHS training staff did a great job working with the younger Quinlan to help him return to the playing field.

“I worked really hard in rehab just so I could play again,” said Grant Quinlan. “I think I’m playing better than I was before.”

Catholic High senior Taylor Lahasky recently signed a letter of intent to play volleyball at Spring Hill, and a select teammate of Quinlan’s from Mandeville also will be heading to Spring Hill to play soccer, said Francis, which should help ease his transition to college.

Quinlan is leaning toward either business or pre-dentistry as a course of study at the NAIA school but plans to take general freshman courses to begin with before deciding on a major.

And of course, he’s looking forward to playing soccer.

“Just the experience of keeping my career going,” said Quinlan. “I love the game. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do.”