No drama but excitement for signees
MILAN — It was a similar scene at high schools across West Tennessee and the country.
A senior football player usually sits at a table flanked by his parents and signs a national letter of intent.
Some of those ceremonies included drama with sudden announcements. Others were a formality after a commitment. That was the theme of the signing ceremonies for the NCAA Division I FBS signees in the region.
“I’ve been committed to Duke all along, and it would’ve been hard for anybody else to pull me away from them,” said Jacob Rimmer, an offensive lineman from Milan who signed with Duke on Wednesday. He committed to the Blue Devils in February of 2016. “It’s been nearly a year, and they’ve done nothing to make me question if my commitment was right or not.”
Rimmer’s ceremony was like that in Milan’s gym in front of about 150 teammates, friends, family members and coaches that were decked out in either Milan purple or Duke blue.
LaTrell Bumphus’ official signing for Tennessee from Hardin County was a little different. He quietly faxed his letter of intent to the Vols’ coaching staff in Knoxville early in the day. Then an estimated 250 people gathered in the field house at Hardin County decked out in Tennessee orange to celebrate the occasion later in the afternoon.
Bumphus said his post-commitment experience was similar to Rimmer’s. He was committed and nothing was going to change it despite the fact a number of coaches from other Southeastern Conference schools continued to contact him.
“Tennessee is where I felt I had the best fit, and it would’ve been hard to make me change my mind,” Bumphus said, who’d said in December the way the Vols regular season ended in November had no bearing on his decision-making for college.
Sticking with their decision was easy for Elijah Harris and Alec Long as well. Both players played defense for Liberty — Harris on the line and Long in the secondary. They both committed to Memphis in June and were wearing Memphis merchandise at the end of their signing ceremony in Liberty’s auditorium Wednesday morning.
“We’ve been dreaming of this day all of us signing together and going to college,” Harris said about the collective Crusader senior class. “And a couple of us are going to Memphis together.
“It’s great that we get to enjoy that, and I’m glad to be a Tiger.”
Both players said part of the attraction for them in addition to being 80 miles from home is the success the Memphis football program has had in recent years under former Memphis coach Justin Fuente and current coach Mike Norvell.
“Memphis football is on the rise, and they’re building to be a better program,” Long said. “Elijah and I have been a part of something like that.
“No one thought Liberty football would be good when (Liberty coach Tyler Turner) got here, and look at what we did. Memphis is doing that now. I want to be a part of a program like that.”
There were two other athletes in rural West Tennessee who signed to play with FBS schools — Halls receiver Tyrese Johnson is headed to Middle Tennessee State, and Andrew Cole will play defensive line at Southern Miss after finishing up at Fayette-Ware.
Both had committed to their respective schools well in advance of national signing day and honored their commitments.
Those are in addition to Trey Smith, who enrolled early at Tennessee after committing a month earlier during a televised announcement at University School of Jackson.
Brandon Shields, 425-9751