Brumfield signs with Wayland Baptist
Fri, 2016-08-05 05:00
News Staff
By TJ MAXWELL
Cove Leader-Press
Just getting to continue his track career means the world to Cove graduate Marcus Brumfield but being able to stay close to family and ease the burden on his family put icing on the cake.
“Wayland is in Plainview near where my adopted brother is going to college in Tyler. They are an hour away,” said Brumfield. “We have a rivalry and, if I am able to join the football team, I will be able to compete against him. Also, having a track team that placed in the top 10 of over 156 NAIA schools is not bad at all.”
Getting a full ride the Wayland helped in that decision.
“I ended up getting a full ride to Wayland and I’m extremely blessed to have coach (Keith) Stifflemire and coach (Jeremy) Shannon help me through the process,” said Brumfield. “I also got an offer from Grambling, which wasn’t a bad offer, but I didn’t want to put my family in a hardship. I wanted to make sure the family could keep themselves up and running while I’m away without putting them any further behind than we had to.”
Brumfield wasn’t sure this moment would ever come with a hiccup in his SAT scores after waiting until May of this year to begin the recruiting process. He didn’t even get a chance to visit the school before committing due to a daunting off-season track schedule and late start in the process.
“I didn’t really get a chance to go visit because I was with my track team the entire time and I was waiting on my SAT scores to come back,” he said. “My original SAT scores were lost because of a misprint on my entry form.”
Brumfield regrets not getting a quicker start on the process and has a word of advice for athletes about to travel the same road.
“Recruiting….start as early as you can,” he said. “I didn’t start my recruiting process until May.
He is ecstatic about the opportunity to continue his career no matter how late it came about.
“Not everybody has a chance to continue their career (in college),” he said. “There are a million boys out there competing 156,000 scholarships. Everybody is going to be putting out a top-notch effort.”
Brumfield’s high school career was all but over before getting the attention of the Wayland coaching staff.
“Wayland first approached me at the state track meet after my 100-meter dash,” he said. “They told me they would be honored for me to come to their school I just needed my SAT scores.”
Having a teammate there didn’t hurt Wayland’s chances either. Fellow track standout Sean Bedford signed to run track for Wayland in an April signing ceremony at the school.
“It really does help my transition,” said Brumfield. “I have somebody there I know I can trust throughout the season. I know he has my back.”