BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Even as a high school freshman, Andy Carlson saw the writing on the wall.

"I couldn't run, I couldn't hit, I couldn't throw," the 2001 Seneca Valley graduate said. "I knew I wasn't going to be a major league baseball player."

He wanted a career in the sport nonetheless.

Carlson, 25, was recently hired as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the Jefferson State Community College baseball program in Birmingham, Ala.

Jefferson State finished 39-18 last year and sent seven players to four-year schools, including three to Division ISoutheastern Louisiana.

"That's par for the course for us," seventh-year Jefferson State coach David Russo said. "We average 32 or more wins per year and send about seven players on to other colleges."

Jefferson State is not a typical junior college in the sense that its baseball program offers 24 full scholarships per year, covering books, tuition and fees.

The program's recruiting base covers all of Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky. Recruits have come from Atlanta, Ga., as well.

"I'm hoping to get a few players to come down from Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York,"Carlson said. "They would almost have to be elite players, though."

Carlson was a marginal player himself. He batted around .207 with no power as a first baseman at Seneca Valley and was the No. 3 pitcher behind current major leaguer Zach Jackson and Ben Miller.

"No. 3 high school pitchers in that part of the country don't get a whole lot of innings,"Carlson said.

Still, Carlson and Miller moved on to Pitt-Bradford, the former seeing action there as a relief pitcher.

Injured early in his senior year, Carlson began making the transition toward coaching during the rest of that season. He became a volunteer coach at Pitt-Bradford the following year.

He went on to spend the 2007 and 2008 seasons at Mercyhurst Northeast, where he earned a master of science degree in special education and served as a graduate assistant coach on the baseball team.

"Back in high school, my goal was to become a high school baseball coach,"Carlson said. "But once I got to college, I knew I wanted to coach on the collegiate level. That's been my goal ever since."

Last spring, Carlson estimates he sent out 50 to 70 applications "anywhere in the country I saw a job opening."

He got the call from Jefferson State.

"I saw his resume, interviewed him ... I found myself wanting to give the kid a chance,"Russo said. "He has a strong passion for the game of baseball. I love his enthusiasm. That's going to be a big asset to us."

Previous assistant coaches under Russo at Jefferson State have gone on to coach at the University of Mississippi and NAIA-level Faulkner University in Montgomery, Ala.

While Russo described recruiting as a "constant process" in college baseball, Carlson is confident he'll get the job done.

"I've already got correspondence out to every high school coach in Alabama,"he said. "Coach Russo is helping to familarize me with this area.

"When you've got a junior college program that has sent players to Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee ... It can recruit itself in some ways. Kids know that if they come here and work hard, good things can happen to them.

"College baseball is a different game down south. More people play and you can play longer. We've already turned away eight to 10 kids calling, wanting to play, during the first week of school. Other places I've been, we'd turn down no one,"Carlson added.

By coming to Jefferson State, Carlson hopes more good things happen for him down the road.

"My long-range goal is to be a head coach at a competitive school," he said. "I want to be an assistant at a Division I school first, just to experience that level.

"But I'm doing what I love to do. And I'm in a good place to do it."