When first-year Louisville head coach Tyrone Shorter lined up as head coach of Noxubee County against LHS, the one kid hated to face the most was quarterback Dre Shumaker.
Now Shorter is proud that he has Shumaker on his side now.
Shumaker enters the 2019 season as the starting quarterback for the Wildcats after leading the team to a 15-1 record last year and a Class 4A state championship. He’s the latest addition to The Winston County Journal’s Top 11 Players to Watch for the upcoming football season.
“Coming here, I was excited about Dre coming back and being the quarterback because when we played against him, I hated to see him at quarterback because he can hurt you in so many ways,” Shorter said. “He can hurt you with his arm, he can hurt you with his legs. He is a true athlete. I really like this kid as a quarterback because as a defensive guy we hate to see athletic quarterback who can throw the football and can run. He can make plays when plays aren’t there. He is a talent.”
Shumaker broke his foot on the first day of summer practice, forcing him to miss the summer and the 7-on-7 camps. But Shorter said that he expects Shumaker to be back sometime in the first couple weeks of the season.
“He is doing well,” Shorter said. “He is still going to therapy a couple days a week. I’m hoping he will be ready by the season opener but I just don’t know at this point. If he is 100 percent, we will play him. If he’s not, we will wait until he is 100 percent. We are looking down the road and looking at his future. We are just taking it slow with him at this point.”
Shorter said he thinks Shumaker is close to getting on the field.
Shorter said Shumaker has multiple offers from the Mississippi junior colleges and has received an offer from Austin Peay. South Alabama, Louisiana Tech and Tulane have showed interest as well.
“I don’t see him playing quarterback a the next level,” Shorter said. “I think he is an outstanding cornerback. I have been telling a lot of scouts, I think every junior college has already offered him I think Austin Peay has already offered him. I have been telling everybody I think he is a corner and can bee a field corner because he run really well and can jump.”
Shumaker threw for 1,108 yards last year and 11 TDs on 63-of-152 passing while rushing for 439 yards on 85 carries. New offensive coordinator Dillon Mitchell is excited about getting Shumaker on the field.
“He is a playmaker,” Mitchell said. “You want him to have the ball and you want the offense going through him. He gives you an opportunity to never have a negative play on offense. He has that next gear and can go the distance for you anytime. He has picked the offense up well. He is a really smart kid and is very football savvy. We have to work with him on little things like protecting the football in the red zone and making better decisions and that is going to come with time. You can’t coach experience. You take a guy that went through a whole season as the starting quarterback on a state championship team, that’s irreplaceable.”
Shorter because he believes Shumaker is a defensive player at the next level, he hopes to get him some reps at defensive back.
“We talked about trying to get him some reps at cornerback because that’s where I think he can play at the next level,” Shorter said. “I would like to get him some film. I’m the type of coach that if you are an athlete and we are in the playoffs and we have to play him at cornerback, I’m going to do it because it is do or die. We are going to work him at corner or use him as a nickel back against teams that throw the football and have a lot of speed.”
Shorter said he has been working with Shumaker on his leadership abilities.
“Off the field, I think he can be that vocal leader,” Shorter said. “I have been talking to him about how to do that. He gets frustrated and wants to get onto the kids in a negative way. Everybody on the football team looks up to that guy. He is that natural leader and just doesn’t know it. I told him, your quarterback leads your team. He could be the Tom Brady of Louisville High School in the locker room where when he speaks, everybody listens to him. He has to learn how to be that leader. I think he is learning to do that.”
Shorter said Shumaker is one of the fastest players in Class 4A, running a 4.39 in the 40-yard dash.
“He is really explosive and fast, that’s his thing,” Shorter said. “He has next-level speed. I saw him in baseball hit an in-the park home run. Sometimes I wished I could use him in more roles. I could see using him being a kick returner or punt returner and being really dangerous there. But he’s my quarterback and I can’t risk him getting hurt back there.”
