Ocean Springs senior defenseman/long-stick middie Mike Huckle has committed to play NCAA Division III lacrosse at Millsaps College.

Huckle said he also considered St. Andrew’s (N.C.), Southwestern (Tex.) and Mesa State before settling on the Jackson, Miss.-based school that will field its first varsity men’s team in the spring of 2011.

“It was closer to home, and I like being part of a brand-new lacrosse program,” Huckle said. “I want to keep lacrosse going here in the South and in Mississippi.”

Huckle said he started playing lacrosse as a freshman in high school, at age 14, and he has made his mark in the Louisiana High School Lacrosse League with just three years experience. Ocean Springs is based in Mississippi but plays in the LHSLL.

“I’m pretty proud,” he said. “I never would have guessed it. Lacrosse was a foreign word to me. But I went to Top 205 West, and the coaches liked me I guess.”