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Future Pirate living up to family name
Offense, defense both
an option for Grand Strand standout Colby Gore
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By
Sammy Batten
©2014 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
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The last name Gore has been a common
one for years in the North Myrtle Beach (SC) High School football
program, but one particular clan by that title has distinguished itself
longer than most others with the Chiefs.
North Myrtle Beach defensive
back-wide receiver Colby Gore became the latest in a line of family
members to earn a chance to play college football on May 16 when he
accepted a scholarship offer from East Carolina. Gore made the decision
over Charlotte, Coastal Carolina, Limestone, Marshall and Old Dominion
just less than three months after the Pirates became the second school
to offer (Charlotte jumped in on national signing day, Feb. 5).
"He received several other offers,
but he seemed to be excited to go to Greenville and play football,''
said former North Myrtle Beach head coach and current secondary coach,
Denver Cromer. "East Carolina has always done a really good job
recruiting the Grand Strand region because it is relatively close to
Greenville. It's just as close as going to any other North Carolina
school, and not much further than going to the University of South
Carolina. It's (ECU) almost a local school, and they've done a good job
getting kids out of this area.''
The Pirates have indeed recruited the
Grand Strand area with intensity during Ruffin McNeill's tenure as head
coach, but they've had far more success in the areas from Columbia to
the West. Their most recent Grand Strand signee was Myrtle Beach wide
receiver Donte Sumpter, who came in the recruiting Class of 2011.
Sumpter left the program in 2012 after his redshirt freshman season.
Hopefully, Gore will stay around
Greenville a bit longer because he's a versatile athlete who could
develop into a big-time college player on either side of the football.
The 6-foot, 180-pounder isn't the
first in the Gore family to display that kind of potential. Two older
brothers played college football and his uncle, Milton Gore, played for
two NCAA Division I-AA championship teams at Georgia Southern. Milton
Gore is now an assistant principal and sometime football coach for the
Chiefs, according to Cromer.
"Here at North Myrtle Beach we've had
a lot of players with the last name Gore,'' Cromer said. "They have a
long history of football excellence in his family. He (Colby Gore)
joined our program in the ninth grade, but he's basically been around it
all his life.
"So it was no surprise when he came
to us in the ninth grade that he'd be a good player for us.''
The only issue was Gore's stature.
When he arrived at North Myrtle as a ninth grader, "he was a rather
small kid,'' Cromer said. "He kind of moved like a great athlete, but we
wondered how big he was going to get.''
While awaiting a growth spurt, Gore
spent his freshman season playing for the North Myrtle junior varsity.
But by his sophomore season, Gore moved to the varsity secondary in
2012, where he quickly became know as a ball hawk. He intercepted six
passes in 2012 to rank among the best in the region as the Chiefs
finished 4-5.
Gore and North Myrtle Beach made
distinct improvement in their performances last season. Playing both
wide receiver and safety, Gore caught 25 passes for 350 yards and two
touchdowns while making 48 tackles and eight interceptions. Three of
those interceptions he returned for touchdowns as North Myrtle Beach
went 9-3 and advanced to the second round of the state playoffs. The
effort earned Gore a spot on the Myrtle Beach Sun News Toast of the
Coast defensive team.
Big plays were Gore's specialty.
During a 48-20 win against Wilson in October, he started the game by
returning the opening kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown. Then, as the
first half drew to a close, Gore picked off a pass and raced 79 yards
for another score.
But it was in a 52-35 first-round
state playoff victory against Orangeburg-Wilkinson that Gore made the
play Cromer called the key to a major upset in the South Carolina
playoff ranks.
"We were a fourth seed against a one
seed,'' Cromer said. "We were supposed to be a big underdog. But on an
early possession in the first quarter, Colby picks off a pass and takes
it right down the sideline about 70 yards for a touchdown. That was the
spark that kind of ignited us and gave us the belief that we could win
that game. We pulled a sizable upset because of that play.''
North Myrtle Beach's success proved a
negative in one way as it led head coach Perry Woolbright to depart his
post in May for the same job at Batesburg-Leesville, which won the state
Class AA Division II title last year. That left the Chiefs without a
head coach during spring practices, although Cromer is one of three
former head coaches remaining on the staff.
Whoever is hired for the 2014 season
will inherit a solid squad, led by Gore.
"We have a good core of players
returning,'' Cromer said. "Right now we do have some depth issues
because we lost a really good senior class. We finished the spring with
a lot of young guys coming up to fill some roles.
"Colby will be a focal point on both
sides of the ball as a senior. He's been a great player on offense for
us, but we've always had a significant number of skill players. So this
year his numbers on offense should be much higher.''
Gore could wind up playing offense or
defense for ECU.
"My impression is they have been
looking at him as a receiver,'' Cromer said. "But he also has the
ability to play defensive back. Like any other Division I program, when
you get an athlete who is a good all-around athlete like Colby, you may
find he fits your needs better on the defensive side of the football.''
Gore is the fourth rising high school
senior to make a pledge to
ECU's Class of 2015. A fifth player committed a week after Gore in
linebacker Danny Thomas from Godby High School in Tallahassee, FL.
A report is forthcoming on Thomas, a 6-2, 220-pounder who put up some
incredible statistics as a junior for Godby.
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05/28/2014 05:02 PM |
