As he is often reminded, Bo Brummel is a long way from his Arlington home. And if the differences in food and climate are not enough, all he has to do is open his mouth.
“As soon as I start talking, I stick out like sore thumb,” said Brummel, a tight end on the Jacksonville State University football team.
And that is Jacksonville, Alabama, not Jackonsville, Florida, though “that’s what I thought when they first called (to recruit) me,” said Brummel, a 2012 graduate of Arlington High School.
Brummel is in his second season at Jacksonville State, and on Saturday the Gamecocks play North Dakota State in the title game of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division 1-AA). The nationally televised game (ESPN2) will be played at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas, just outside Dallas, and will be the culmination and perhaps the happy ending to Brummel’s college football journey.
“It’s definitely bittersweet, coming into the last game of my college career,” he said. “But we’re in the national championship game and that’s what I came here for.”
The Gamecocks lost in the quarterfinals a year ago, “so we had a lot of fire coming into this season,” he went on. “We had a lot to prove, and (getting to the national title game) is a big deal for our program.”
North Dakota State, which has won four consecutive national titles, “is a very good team,” he said, “but we’re very confident. We believe that if we play our game, we should be successful.”
The 22-year-old Brummel was a good player at Arlington, though certainly less than a blue-chip recruit by his senior season. He ended up playing two seasons at Butte College in Oroville, Calif., where he continued to grow and develop. As a sophomore in 2013 he was a first-team All-American, as chosen by the California Community College Athletic Association, and he helped Butte to a co-national championship.
By that time recruiters were calling, though the offers were not coming from the traditional college football powerhouses. He heard from schools such as Cincinnati, Eastern Michigan, Indiana State and Stephen F. Austin, but it was a visit to Jacksonville near the northeast corner of Alabama that led to his commitment.
With a population of around 12,000, Jacksonville “is smaller than Arlington,” Brummel said. Indeed, it is more of a community than a city. It is also a place where kindness and hospitality still matter a great deal. And like much of the South, residents are rightly proud of the region’s good food and, on Saturdays in the fall, good football.
During his recruiting visit, “I fell in love with the people here,” Brummel said. “Everyone is very polite and it’s a very homey place, to say the least. I fell in love with the coaches, too. It’s just a good environment and I’ve loved it here. It’s been a perfect fit.”
Jacksonville State head coach John Grass chuckles when he recalls watching Brummel adjust to the ways of the South. The heat and humidity certainly took some getting used to, particularly during the scorching days of summer training camp. Brummel would be running wind sprints and sweating so heavily “that you could see water coming out of his shoes,” Grass said.
As for the food, Grass added, “I told him when he got here, ‘If it moves in the South, we fry it.’ (Later) he bought himself a fry dish to fry his own food. … So I think he’s really enjoyed it here and we’ve enjoyed having him. He’s a great person, he works extremely hard, and he represents us on the field and off the field in the way we want our program represented.”
All but about a handful of players on the Jacksonville State roster are from Alabama or from southern states such as Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi and Tennessee. Brummel is one of just three players from west of the Mississippi River, and the only player from the North. “They call me the Yankee,” he said with a laugh.
Being so far from home “is a little rough,” he admitted. “I only get to go home about twice a year. But (otherwise) it’s been really good. … And my parents (Bud and Jerri Ann Brummel) have only missed a few games, home and away, since I came to Jacksonville State. As long as they can find a plane ticket and a hotel, they’re going to be at the game.”
The Gamecocks are 13-1 this season, with their only loss coming at Auburn, 27-20, in Week 2 in a non-conference game.
“We went toe to toe with them the entire game, but ended up losing with about a minute to go in the fourth quarter,” Brummel said. “We can go toe to toe with anybody in country as far as (starting) talent,” he added. “The only difference is those (Division I) teams have more depth.”
Brummel, who missed six games this season with a knee injury, wants to continue his football career in the NFL. He expects to spend the coming months training for a Jacksonville State pro day sometime in March. With NFL scouts showing up to evaluate prospects, a pro day “is really the key for getting a shot in the NFL,” said the 6-foot-3, 245-pound Brummel.
“Ever since I was a little kid I’ve wanted to be a professional athlete, regardless of the sport,” said Brummel, who has one catch for 31 yards this season and caught seven passes for 124 yards a four touchdowns in 2014. “Football just ended up being my calling. … (To play as a pro) has always been my dream and now it’s right there. It getting closer and closer, and now all I need is a shot.”
“I think he’s got a chance,” Grass said. “He’s the prototypical tight end. He’s got the size, he’s got the blocking ability and he’s got the receiving ability. I think it depends on his pro day and being able (to use that) to get into camp and then see if he can make the team.
“There are so many guys trying to make it, but I think Bo has the skill set to make it if he’s given the opportunity. And I hope and pray that he gets that opportunity.”
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