Chumley eyes options, ready to return

Longview (Texas) Pine Tree three-star athlete Caleb Chumley continues to draw interest his way. He has added offers from Missouri, Kansas, and New Mexico State and has now reached double digit offers.

However the 2013 season has not gotten off to the start he hoped. It appeared his senior season might be over before it ever got started when he partially tore a ligament in his big toe, but those thoughts were premature.

"At first they said he wasn't going to be able to play this season, but he's going to be back in two weeks," Pine Tree offensive coordinator Jeremy Orsagh said. "So he's going to be back and we'll see what happens.

"He thinks he's going to come back and be 100-percent and play every snap, and I told him we're going to start you off slow. He's got too much football to play. I know you think three ball games, four ball games your senior year are really important and you don't want to let your team down, but at the same time…and I could be selfish as a coach and put you out there, but I don't want to injure that toe because it's nothing major it's just a toe.

"You have the kid at Longview who breaks his toe and he's back this week and he's like 'Coach I didn't break anything,' but a ligament is a lot different."

Chumley is expected back for Pine Tree's October 18 matchup with Hallsville, and while the 6-6, 225-pound standout has been slowed by injury, there have been some positive side effects.

"The thing that's really impressed me about Caleb from my standpoint is since his injury he hasn't missed a practice," Coach Orsagh said. "He's there every day. He's in the meeting every day and doing stuff on the board. I think he's learning more since he's been injured because when he was playing he could not know some stuff but with his athleticism he would get away with it. Now he can hear me teach the quarterback I'm playing now and he's picking it up and I go in on the board and I think he's just standing by me in practice and not picking it up but he's done a great job."

On the recruiting front Chumley continues to take his time with the process, but there are a few programs who have caught his attention

"He likes Missouri. They're after him hard. They really want him. He likes Missouri. He likes Louisiana Tech. Other than those two it's kind of up in the air," Coach Orsagh said. "He doesn't want to go far off I know that. It's going to be somewhere around here. And his dream is to go to Baylor. He would like to go to Baylor and they were on him and kind of fell off because he hasn't been playing. He said coach I'm going to come back I want to do something my last couple of games that way I can pull in a couple of more offers."

In addition to Missouri, Louisiana Tech, and Baylor, coach Orsagh later mentioned a couple of other schools who have Chumley's interest.

"Now he likes Kansas too," Coach Orsagh said. "Coach Weis has talked to him a few times and he likes Kansas. And they're going to bring him in as a quarterback and see what happens with that. As far as going far off they've done a good job. Kansas State has been on him and he really liked K-state but they haven't offered yet. They were wanting to see some more game film and with the injury and all that…yeah."

According to coach Orsagh he does not have any visits scheduled at this point, and he is waiting to see what happens with the season before ramping up his recruitment.