He entered Palm Harbor University, he thought, as a quarterback. The talents of the 5-foot 10-inch, scrawny, 150-pounder were soon realized. Now a rising senior, Quentin Cummings played only a few junior varsity games at quarterback before he was promoted to the varsity squad, as a defensive end.
“I got fired pretty quick,” the now 6-foot 1-inch 210-pound linebacker said with a laugh. “Our quarterback coach could tell I wasn’t an offensive player. I like to hit too much to play quarterback. I was always taking off running.”
Cummings led the Hurricanes with 99 tackles in his junior season. Including the postseason Cummings finished with 128 tackles. Being stymied at 99 tackles in the regular season though, gave him a popular nickname.
“Last season I had 99 in the regular season so the guys call me ‘Mr. 99,'” he said. “I’m looking to definitely get over 100 for sure, but my goal is 150. I’m looking to lead the county in tackles.”
Cummings wasn’t asked to do a lot, from a leadership perspective, as a junior. The Hurricanes graduated 20-plus seniors, including star quarterback Billy Pavlock so Cummings’ role as a senior will expand exponentially.
“I’ve always been kind of quite, but I cant do that anymore,” he explained. “I got the younger kids looking up to me. I’m calling all the plays on defense. I’ve got to be loud now.”
One of the biggest problems Cummings is faced with is changing the mentality at Palm Harbor. The Hurricanes, until last year, hadn’t made much noise.
“Its not easy; It really isn’t. We don’t have any culture or history,” he said. “Some of the older guys are still in the mindset that ‘Palm Harbor football doesn’t matter.’ I’m trying to get the younger guys to practice hard everyday and build the tradition.”
Palm Harbor finished the 2011 season 7-5, dropping a 33-26 contest to East Lake in the postseason.
“We definitely want to see East Lake again.”
Cummings has been raised in an athletic household. His grandfather played college football for Alabama; his two younger sisters play soccer at a high level. The family has always been about football though.
Growing up Cummings played a lot of running back – something that has translated to his play as a linebacker.
“I see a lot of the stuff before other people, kind of like running back vision,” he says. “I see the holes open up and I visualize myself playing running back and think ‘what I would do, where I would go’ and I just attack the hole. I try to beat the running back there.”
When he isn’t on the gridiron, Cummings is likely on the water. He picked up surfing a few years ago and hasn’t stopped since.
“I’m a big surfer. I go over to East Coast, down to Cocoa Beach, on the weekends,” he says. I’ve got friends that live in my neighborhood that surf and I went out with them a few years ago and just fell in love with it.”
In addition to surfing, Cummings has a major interest in pursuing a career as a journalist. He currently writes for his student newspaper covering sports and politics. He says that sports journalism and sports broadcasting has always been an interest of his and will definitely weigh in to how he makes his college decision.
“I wouldn’t want to go to a huge school,” Cummings said, sighting that a school like The Citadel, who is recruiting him, might be a good fit. “It would also be nice to go to a journalism school.”
The Hurricanes will put the pads on, on Friday, opening with what they call ‘The Pit,’ an Oklahoma style drill with linemen, a running back and a linebacker.
“I really think Palm Harbor is going to surprise some people this year. We want to, at least, win the district.”
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Kyle is a recruiting analyst for Big County Preps. You can email him at Bennett@BigCountyPreps.com and follow him on Twitter @KyleBennettBCP