Success, and life in general, is a marathon, not a sprint.

It’s a lesson that Greenville High School alumnus Terail Snipes learned immediately upon graduating high school.

Snipes was a human no-fly zone as the Tigers’ safety for a three-year stretch between 2010-2013, regularly coming down with huge interceptions in high-stakes postseason play.

Snipes was also a contender for the 17th annual Butler County Achiever Award his senior year.

The three-year starter was invited to the Rivals Camp Series as well as the Nike Football SPARQ Combine, and attracted attention from the likes of Vanderbilt, South Alabama, Troy and Southern Mississippi.

Unfortunately, none of those schools panned out for Snipes.

“I didn’t have the ACT to get into those schools,” Snipes said.

Though it was a frustrating situation for him, it did little to impede Snipes’ dream of playing collegiate football.

Snipes headed south to Southeastern University in Florida, and soon after transferred to Lurleen B. Wallace Community College.

It was then, after reconnecting with an old friend—Bryant Vincent, former Greenville High School head coach and current offensive coordinator at the University of South Alabama—that Snipes found himself back on track.

“I always knew Coach Vincent since he was at Greenville High School, and he was a huge factor of my decision to be at South Alabama,” Snipes said.

“Dedication, determination and focusing on the outcome of it all are the things that kept me going.”

The transition to South Alabama has marked a new, clearly defined chapter in Snipes’ life, but the change has been mostly for the better.

“It was a huge change.  It’s a nice environment with nice people,” Snipes added.

“It’s more of a challenge, but life is hard, and no one said it would be easy, so I’m just trying to maintain and get my grades right.”

Snipes is learning on the field as well as in the classroom as the former safety is making the transition to cornerback.

Though he admitted that practices at much faster and more intense at the collegiate level in comparison to his days at Greenville High School, it’s a challenge he’s looking forward to meeting head on.

“Cornerback is completely different from safety, technique wise,” Snipes said.

“You have to be more physical at the line of scrimmage, but that’s not a problem because you have to be more physical playing safety.  And I did that in high school, and will do the same at this level.”