DE Cumbie excited about early interest

Morris (Ill.) junior defensive end prospect Jamie Cumbie (6-foot-7, 255 pounds) decided to stay closer to home this past weekend, as Cumbie was one of several Morris supporters in the crowd to watch his teammate John Dergo win the 171 pounds state wrestling title in Champaign on Saturday.

"I decided to just go down to Champaign and watch (John) Dergo wrestle for a state title," Cumbie said. "We had a great turnout from Morris to support him, and he brought home the state title at 171 pounds. We're all just really proud of John and I was glad that I made it down to Champaign to watch him win it."

Cumbie will hit the road again this coming weekend and will visit a few college junior day events.

"On Saturday I'm heading to Purdue for their junior day event, then on Sunday I'm heading over to Notre Dame for another junior day. I'm excited to see what both Purdue and Notre Dame have to offer and I'm looking forward to getting to know the coaches and the schools better."

Cumbie, who relocated to Morris after playing his first two seasons of high school ball in South Carolina, talked about what he felt the main difference was playing ball in Illinois compared to South Carolina.

"To me the main difference has been the attention and the overall focus and coverage of the sport here in Morris as well as state wide in Illinois. As you know, we have a great atmosphere for football in Morris, and the fans really make high school football a much bigger deal here in Illinois."

So how does Cumbie feel about landing four early scholarship offers (Illinois/Northwestern/Clemson and Purdue) as well as the added recruiting attention so far during his recruiting process?

"It's a great feeling to be drawing the kind of offers and attention that I've been getting. It's a really good feeling to know that people are interested in you as a player. I'm just trying to take everything in stride, and I know that I still have a lot to prove to myself and my coaches on the football field."