When Julien Withrow laces up his soccer cleats next season he will do so for the Tennessee Wesleyan University Bulldogs.
Withrow is a 2022 Gilmer High honor graduate and was the engine that powered the Bobcats’ attack. He will make the move to Athens, Tenn., in the fall, and selected TWU after also fielding interest from the University of North Georgia, Berry College and Middle Georgia College.
Withrow made two visits to get a glimpse into TWU’s athletic and academic environments. He also got to practice with the team and signed his letter of intent following his second visit in the fall of 2021.
“I really like the people there, and the dynamic there is different because it’s a smaller school so you get a lot more focus and specific work on you,” said Withrow. “So you can really focus on yourself and get better as a person and grow with the people around you. It’s more family based instead of where it’s larger and you’re just a number.
“For a major, I’m going into the pre-physical therapy program, but that’s subject to change. I interned with Jill Darling, and she showed me a lot of good stuff.”
Withrow credits his mom Silvija with getting him interested in soccer at a young age. It has been his solo sport over the years aside of a stray season on the cross-country team. He played locally with the Three Rivers Athletic Club before moving on to Clear Creek Middle and GHS.
He hit the road with TRAC’s travel team, who spends much of its time playing in Cherokee County during the fall and spring seasons. Withrow took his game to the next level when he started playing for National Premier team Georgia Impact in the spring of 2020.
“I’m a very young player for my grade. I could be a junior because I’m (born in 2004) so I played with my age level on the club team and also played an age up,” Withrow explained. “I’ve been playing a few ages up since I was 6, and I played on two teams while at Georgia Impact. I started on the U19 team, which is the more prestigious team. So I’d play 90 minutes there then the next game I’d play 90 minutes with the ’04 team. So I pretty much got double the playing time because of that situation.”
Pulling double duty on the soccer field, in addition to a stringent academic load, forced Withrow to set his priorities while sharpening his time management.
“It’s tough especially when you take hard classes. I had AP calculus and AP chemistry my last semester, and it was rough, especially going into second semester,” Withrow said. “I had the end of club season, the beginning of high school season and those two AP classes along with just living life.
“You do what homework you can in the morning, turn it in, get more work, then go to high school training and club training after that. By the time you drive home, it’s 10:30, 11 at night.”
The club scene exposed Withrow to stronger and faster players who were more skilled than what is found at an average high school game. There is much less space to operate, and passes and movement must be anticipatory rather than reactionary.
“It taught me about discipline because there’s high standards,” Withrow said. “The fitness is a lot more extensive especially playing double the games like I was. The style of play, passing the ball more, moving in around the back, compared to high school, it’s totally different. After playing high school for a while then going back to club, our coaches would always be mad at us for reverting back to old habits.”
His time at GHS marked the best four-year run for the program as the Bobcats posted a 25-21-1 record and reached the state playoffs three times.
Withrow was a four-year letter winner, and he earned a starting spot after a few games into his freshman season and never looked back. The Bobcats achieved their first state playoff berth in program history in 2019.
The Cats got off to a strong start in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic canceled all sports across the state.
The Bobcats were back in the playoffs Withrow’s junior season, which culminated with his selection to the all-region first team. He ended the year with a team-leading 12 goals. Withrow followed up that performance with another first-team all-region nod as a senior while the Bobcats reached the state playoffs once more.
He capped his GHS career with nine goals and 14 assists. The Cats achieved a program best 10 wins and finished with their best-ever record of 10-5-1. They were 5-2 versus region opponents and finished third in the final region standings, which are tops in GHS history. Gilmer had a plus-14 goal differential in region matches.
“My senior season was probably our best season in terms of success and numbers,” Withrow said. “I feel like the team really gelled, and that probably had a lot to do with having so many seniors. Our starting lineup was pretty much all seniors.”
Withrow discussed who helped him mature on the soccer field over the years and where TWU plans to best use his talents on the field this fall.
“As I’ve grown older, my club coaches have been really influential,” he said. “Coaches (Simon) Phipps and (Taylor) Johnstone (at GHS); I can’t thank them enough. They really pushed me as far as discipline and pushing myself and as a leader. And my dad (Greg) has always pushed me to work hard.
“At TWU, they like to keep their offense and midfield kind of fluid,” he said. “Obviously, if you do better in a position, they’ll try to keep you there. They like to interchange with overlapping runs, but I think the primary position I’ll play is a 10, which is a creator in the midfield.”
TWU competes in the NAIA as member of the Appalachian Athletic Conference.