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Jamison good to goNoxubee County linebacker eager to assist quick turnaround for JSU
RAYMOND ? Marcus Jamison has spent the past six weeks running sprints and lifting weights at Jackson State, relentlessly preparing himself for his introduction to college football.
On Friday night, Jamison is determined to send one final message to his future coaches: My time is now.
"I'd hate to miss a year of football by redshirting," Jamison said Wednesday as he and his North teammates practiced at Hinds Community College for the 57th annual Bernard Blackwell All-Star Classic. "If Coach (Rick) Comegy comes in and says that, I'm going to ask him what I have to do to change his mind. I want to show the (JSU) coaches that I'm ready to play even before two-a-days kick off."
According to Comegy, Jamison - who has met NCAA freshman eligibility requirements - may not have to wait long at all. The Tigers, who graduated two starting linebackers from last year's 2-9 debacle that cost James Bell his job, open the season at home Sept. 2 against Paul Quinn.
"We're looking for good things out of Marcus Jamison," said Comegy, who inherited a tradition-rich program that was just 8-26 over the last three years. "He's got great movement. He'll come right up and lay the hat on you without thinking twice.
"We want to get back to the days when Jackson State had real blue-chippers - and I think we're starting to find a few of those guys."
Jamison's combination of talent and desire is plenty familiar to his coaches at Noxubee County, who sing his praises for his demeanor both on and off the field.
"Marcus has the best work habits I've seen in 33 years of coaching," Noxubee coach M.C. Miller said. "He'd get upset if he couldn't come in the weightroom and lift every day. He made sure the other players were serious about it, too. You never had to worry about him getting in trouble - and he'd stop other kids from getting in trouble."
Noxubee basketball coach T.J. Billups cites a phone call he got from Jamison last month.
"He just wanted to wish me a happy Father's Day," said Billups, who has a 5-year-old son. "That's something every coach would remember. Marcus is the most coachable kid I've ever had. Even though he wasn't really a basketball player, he came out every day and gave it 115 percent. If he wasn't at practice, it didn't go right just because his attitude, leadership and toughness were missing."
Those are the traits that sold Comegy when he visited Noxubee - long a J-State stronghold - and met Jamsion soon after taking over at JSU in December. For his part, the 19-year-old player immediately hit it off with the 52-year-old coach.
"When I sat down and talked to Coach Comegy," Jamison said, "he looked me dead in the eye and everything he said, I was feeling. He means business - and I mean business, too.
"He said, 'We've got to change this thing around and it's going to take hard work.' Right then, I knew I was going to Jackson State."
Jamison, who developed his work habits stacking hay bales before he even reached high school, wasn't always sure he'd remain a Tiger.
Southern Miss, Iowa State, Arkansas State and Grambling State also were interested, although some schools, perhaps worried about Jamison's size, backed off late in a year Mississippi was loaded with Division I-A linebacker prospects.
Yet 13 years ago, a relatively undersized and unheralded linebacker from Noxubee County - Jamison's half-brother, Nate Wayne - signed with Ole Miss and went on to captain the Rebels in 1997. Wayne played his eighth season in the NFL with the Detroit Lions in 2005.
"We didn't grow up together, but I talk to him every now and then," said the 6-foot, 218-pound Jamison, whose father, Nate Wayne Sr., lives in Chicago. "I look to what he's done and it motivates me. I want to show him I can do it, too.
"I feel like I was overlooked last year, but those things don't stop me from playing ball. They make me go even harder."
For his inspiration off the field, Jamison relies on his mother, Lillie, back home in Brooksville.
"She's always told me to do the right thing no matter what," Jamison said.
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060720/SPORTS06/607200363/0/SPORTS
RAYMOND ? Marcus Jamison has spent the past six weeks running sprints and lifting weights at Jackson State, relentlessly preparing himself for his introduction to college football.
On Friday night, Jamison is determined to send one final message to his future coaches: My time is now.
"I'd hate to miss a year of football by redshirting," Jamison said Wednesday as he and his North teammates practiced at Hinds Community College for the 57th annual Bernard Blackwell All-Star Classic. "If Coach (Rick) Comegy comes in and says that, I'm going to ask him what I have to do to change his mind. I want to show the (JSU) coaches that I'm ready to play even before two-a-days kick off."
According to Comegy, Jamison - who has met NCAA freshman eligibility requirements - may not have to wait long at all. The Tigers, who graduated two starting linebackers from last year's 2-9 debacle that cost James Bell his job, open the season at home Sept. 2 against Paul Quinn.
"We're looking for good things out of Marcus Jamison," said Comegy, who inherited a tradition-rich program that was just 8-26 over the last three years. "He's got great movement. He'll come right up and lay the hat on you without thinking twice.
"We want to get back to the days when Jackson State had real blue-chippers - and I think we're starting to find a few of those guys."
Jamison's combination of talent and desire is plenty familiar to his coaches at Noxubee County, who sing his praises for his demeanor both on and off the field.
"Marcus has the best work habits I've seen in 33 years of coaching," Noxubee coach M.C. Miller said. "He'd get upset if he couldn't come in the weightroom and lift every day. He made sure the other players were serious about it, too. You never had to worry about him getting in trouble - and he'd stop other kids from getting in trouble."
Noxubee basketball coach T.J. Billups cites a phone call he got from Jamison last month.
"He just wanted to wish me a happy Father's Day," said Billups, who has a 5-year-old son. "That's something every coach would remember. Marcus is the most coachable kid I've ever had. Even though he wasn't really a basketball player, he came out every day and gave it 115 percent. If he wasn't at practice, it didn't go right just because his attitude, leadership and toughness were missing."
Those are the traits that sold Comegy when he visited Noxubee - long a J-State stronghold - and met Jamsion soon after taking over at JSU in December. For his part, the 19-year-old player immediately hit it off with the 52-year-old coach.
"When I sat down and talked to Coach Comegy," Jamison said, "he looked me dead in the eye and everything he said, I was feeling. He means business - and I mean business, too.
"He said, 'We've got to change this thing around and it's going to take hard work.' Right then, I knew I was going to Jackson State."
Jamison, who developed his work habits stacking hay bales before he even reached high school, wasn't always sure he'd remain a Tiger.
Southern Miss, Iowa State, Arkansas State and Grambling State also were interested, although some schools, perhaps worried about Jamison's size, backed off late in a year Mississippi was loaded with Division I-A linebacker prospects.
Yet 13 years ago, a relatively undersized and unheralded linebacker from Noxubee County - Jamison's half-brother, Nate Wayne - signed with Ole Miss and went on to captain the Rebels in 1997. Wayne played his eighth season in the NFL with the Detroit Lions in 2005.
"We didn't grow up together, but I talk to him every now and then," said the 6-foot, 218-pound Jamison, whose father, Nate Wayne Sr., lives in Chicago. "I look to what he's done and it motivates me. I want to show him I can do it, too.
"I feel like I was overlooked last year, but those things don't stop me from playing ball. They make me go even harder."
For his inspiration off the field, Jamison relies on his mother, Lillie, back home in Brooksville.
"She's always told me to do the right thing no matter what," Jamison said.
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060720/SPORTS06/607200363/0/SPORTS
