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Hernando Today

Bang the Drum(mond) Slowly

Photo by JOE DiCRISTOFALO

Brooksville’s Corey Drummond, a two-time All-County football selection at HCA, begins his redshirt freshman season as a third-string linebacker for Southwest Baptist College.

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By MARTY MILLER

Hernando Today correspondent

Published: September 10, 2008

Two years ago, Hernando Christian Academy linebacker Corey Drummond was starting his senior year at the school and was counted on to be one of the leaders of that team.

Now after spending a year as a redshirt on the sidelines, Drummond is now listed as a third-string linebacker for Division II Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Mo.

And in his first year on the varsity roster, Drummond is trying to work his way up the playing-time ladder.

Drummond was held out of football for a year by the school, so this year he begins as a redshirt freshman looking to earn some playing time this season.

"During fall camp, I sprained the AC-joint in my shoulder while I was on the first and second string on the special teams," Drummond said. "I ended up missing two weeks and got put down to third string, so I'm trying to work my way back up to where I was before this."

The Brooksville freshman, who was named twice to the Hernando Today All-County team in 2005 and '06 along with being the leading tackler in Hernando County in 2006, says his college team is much better than it was last year.

"We lost our first game of the year to Southeast Missouri State (35-28) in overtime after we led them by 16 points in the second half," recalled Drummond. "And last year I think they beat us by more than 20 points."

Drummond said that playing college football, even as a redshirt freshman, was entirely different than when he was in high school.

"The difference is huge," he said. "There was so much stuff to learn. I was spending all my time keeping notes. It's taken me up until now to get a handle on learning this defense."

He also said that playing college football takes so much more time. "There is a different structure to this. Like how many meetings a day you have. I love it, there's nothing like it, I'll tell you."

During his freshman year, Drummond had to make public appearances for the school.

"Each Friday a group of us go to a local elementary or middle school and do stuff with the kids," shared Drummond. "They even asked for my autograph."

He also had to work with the blocking dummies for the varsity during practice.

"That was hard because you had to give the first and second string a good look," he added.

Drummond, whose father is Mike Drummond, the athletic director at HCA, says that being away from home to go to school was the best thing he could have done.

"I definitely don't regret doing it," he said. "It makes me appreciate home more when I come back for Christmas. But the separation from mom and dad helped a lot, it makes you grow up a lot faster, being on your own."

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