Forsyth County in North Carolina doesn’t offer tackle football at the middle school level, so when Chosen Hyman showed up for preseason practice at East Forsyth High in 2003, he was a bit of a mystery.

“We didn’t know anything about him, really,” East Forsyth head coach Todd Willert said. “So, it was kind of crazy. He was really raw as a freshman. But we could see something special in how big he was and how well he moved. His lateral movement, his hands and his quickness were just different.”

Three years later the mystery of Chosen Hyman has been solved. Hyman has developed into an all-conference defensive lineman who heads into his senior season at East Forsyth with his college future already settled. The 6-foot-2, 285-pounder was one of 16 prep prospects who gave his verbal commitment to East Carolina during a busy June recruiting period. Hyman cast his lot with the Pirates on June 21, just three days after making an official visit to Greenville.

The pledge capped a lengthy courtship of Hyman by the Pirates, whose attention he caught during a breakout junior campaign. After getting his feet wet with the varsity in 11 games as a sophomore, Hyman racked up 56 tackles, 11 tackles for loss and four sacks in 12 games last season to earn All-Central Piedmont 7-A/8-A Conference honors.

ECU’s co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach Roy Tesh initiated the contact with Hyman after hearing from Willert.

“I’ve known Coach Tesh for quite a while,” said Willert, who has more than 200 career wins and two state titles in 23 seasons at East Forsyth. “During his (Hyman’s) junior year his numbers started to go up. Me and my defensive coordinator, Derek Bryant, said ‘Hey, we’ve got to get in touch with Coach (Tesh) and tell him we have a special defensive lineman. So somewhere in the middle of his junior year, we contacted Coach Tesh and made him aware of him. They created a great relationship and it kind of went from there.”

Despite the impressive junior season, Hyman’s only scholarship offers were from ECU and Football Championship Subdivision West Georgia. The Pirates, however, were able to evaluate Hyman more closely than others because he attended summer camp and made several unofficial visits to campus during his recruitment.

“The whole staff (at ECU) does a great job recruiting talent, and not necessarily stars,” Willert said. “Everybody kind of looks for five- and four-star (ranked) guys. But I think ECU does a great job of just recruiting great players. And I think they saw that in Chosen.”

Although he, too, noticed something special about Hyman as a ninth grader, Willert was even surprised how the 2025 unfolded for his defensive line star.

“I didn’t know we’d be able to move him anywhere, to a shade, to a three to a standup rush-edge guy,” Willert said. “But I think that’s what sticks out the most is he made plays as an edge guy and an interior guy. He’s not just a five-technique coming off the edge, and he’s not just a three or a shade. We’ve had a lot of defensive linemen go on to play in college, but I don’t know if I’ve had one as versatile as him. And I think his best football, honestly, is ahead of him.”

As Hyman enters his final prep season, Willert is hoping his consistency will match his versatility.

“With a lot of high school guys, it’s just the consistency of playing every play,” Willert said. “A lot of high school guys will play five out of 10 plays really well. I’m hoping to see him play about eight to nine out of 10 plays well. I think that’s the big thing, to see him dominate every play, not just half of them. That’s the biggest jump I hope he makes.”

Hyman, who’ll be an early graduate, is one of two defensive linemen in ECU’s Class of 2027 so far from the Triad area of North Carolina. Highly rated edge Andrew Rogers, from Greensboro’s Grimsley High, also committed to the Pirates in June.