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Cummings athletes head in various directions
Porsha Graves saw boys at Cummings High School land basketball scholarships and college opportunities. She decided to join the mix.
Graves, a point guard, signed with Division II Johnson C. Smith
"I wanted to do it, too," Graves said. "I said if they can do it, I can do it."
Cummings honored seven athletes Wednesday morning.
Graves, a four-year starter, became the first girls' basketball player to commit to a college for basketball in 11 years. "It was a hard decision," she said. "In the middle of the season, I got it in my heart."
Cummings coach Freddie Shoffner said: "Johnson C. Smith is getting a real diamond in the rough. They got a good one coming."
Shoffner, whose team went 20-8, said Amateur Athletic Union coach Zoe Walker pushed for Graves to gain exposure. She also had an offer from Virginia Union.
Graves, who wants to major in business management, also participated in track and field this year. She spent four seasons in the volleyball program and three years with the soccer team.
One of her track and field teammates, Lacreasha Jones, signed recently with Winston-Salem State after one year on the Cummings team as a hurdler. She became the first of about 25 Cummings track and field scholarship athletes in the past couple of decades to land a scholarship with only one year with the program, coach Donnie Davis said.
Kris Jaggers, a boys' soccer player, will go to Pfeiffer in what Cummings officials say is a rare athlete from the school going on to play soccer.
"I've played soccer since I was 4," Jaggers said. "I knew we didn't have a great program, but I would make the best of it.'
Jaggers, a midfielder and defender, will be an invited player to the Pfeiffer team. Cummings, which often had trouble finding enough players, is coming off 0-18 and 5-12-1 seasons.
"Kris was a big part of creating that turnaround," Cummings coach Perrin Fourmy said. "When he started as a seventh grader, he was not the best player on the team. But by the time he was a senior, he was a leader on the field. He made himself a better player."
Jaggers said he intends to major in sports management and minor in journalism.
Four football players announced their intentions, with receiver Tony Tuck going to Union College, an NAIA school in Barbourville, Ky., and defensive back Jeremy Jones picking two-year Louisburg College. Defensive lineman Reggie Long and receiver Kendrick Sellars are opting for North Carolina Tech, a prep school in Charlotte.
There were no North Carolinians on the 2007 Union team, so Tuck ventures into a bit of the unknown.
"A new thing," said Tuck, who moved to Burlington from Roxboro in 2000. "I did want to leave town and explore the world."
Cummings coach Steve Johnson said Tuck's versatility is a major asset. Offensive coordinator Jay Perdue said Tuck had to make the most of his chances because "sometimes at wide receiver you have to wait your turn here."
Jones, 18, plans to major in graphic design at Louisburg, where he attended the recent spring football game. He suffered a broken leg as a junior and dealt with a stress fracture as a senior. "He kept going and wouldn't give up," Johnson said.
Jones, who also might be used as a return specialist, said: "I'm healthy, good to go right now. I'm just let it heal by itself."
Long and Sellars said they want to boost their football profiles and their grades at North Carolina Tech and then move on to four-year colleges. Long, who was an offensive lineman a few years ago, became a mobile defender by shedding his weight from 266 pounds to 240.
