South Georgia - In The Game High School Sports Magazine

Sometimes, even when things look disastrous, they work out for the better. Just ask Tift County Blue Devils senior Sy Crumley.

The 6’1”, 175-pound wide receiver started his football career with the Blue Devils as a quarterback. During his freshman year, he injured his elbow. During his recovery, he couldn’t throw at all. But he could do one thing — catch. “My coaches moved me to receiver when I hurt my arm. I ended up liking receiver better than quarterback. When my elbow healed, I stayed at receiver,” he says.

The two-sport athlete — he also plays baseball — is sitting at third in his class and hopes to move up to at least salutatorian. He has some special motivation for landing in the top two in the Class of 2010 (more on that shortly). Right now, he’s also motivated to excel on the football field. He knows this is his last season playing football so he wants it to be his best year yet. “It’s going to take hard work and sacrifice. I also have some character goals, mainly to become bigger in my faith and reach out to others,” he says.

Sy has been a part of the Tift County football program for four years. He played a modest amount of varsity ball last season but should be an integral part of Tift’s offense this season. Blue Devils Head Coach, Jay Walls, praises Sy for having sure hands and knowing how to run routes well. “He does a great job catching the ball. He’s very smart and has the ability to learn and understand what we’re doing game plan-wise,” says Coach Walls.

Tift runs a spread offense and attacks from a variety of angles. A receiver like Sy is a very versatile tool. “We throw the ball a lot and try to stretch the field horizontally and vertically. Sy is an excellent possession receiver and he’s a good blocker. He’s a big target, and he’s still growing,” says Coach Walls.

Sy isn’t the fastest receiver on the field, but he isn’t slow by any means either. Since he is less likely to win many footraces on the field, he focuses on running a crisp route and creating separation. “He’s become a student of the game and he knows how to get open,” says Coach Walls.

Sy’s favorite football moment came in 2006 when he was a freshman. The Blue Devils rolled through the regular season with only one loss and continued winning once the post-season arrived. Wins against East Coweta, Union Grove and North Gwinnett moved Tift into the semi-finals game against Roswell at the Georgia Dome. Tift lost, but Sy, who was a freshman on that ’06 squad, remembers the atmosphere well. “I didn’t play, but I traveled with the varsity. It was a big-game atmosphere and very fun,” he recalls.

Sy suffered a setback a few months ago that has hampered his preparation for the upcoming season. In a passing league tournament on June 19, he collided with another player and broke his collarbone on the left side. It’s not his throwing shoulder, which is important primarily for baseball. “I haven’t been released yet. I thought I was going to have surgery, but we bypassed that,” he says. The injury also forced Sy to postpone pitching camp he had previously scheduled at Georgia Tech.

Speaking of baseball, Sy has had a pretty good career on the diamond for the Blue Devils. Baseball is his first love; in fact, he considered not playing football in high school just so he could concentrate exclusively on baseball. However, he figured the workouts and conditioning from football would help him with baseball.

Sy began as an infielder but started pitching as a junior. “I was supposed to be the closer, but I ended up starting by our first game,” he says. Sy throws a two- and four-seam fastball, a sidearm curve and a change-up. He also developed a knuckle ball that he used with some degree of success last season. “I may use the knuckle ball instead of a change next season.” When he isn’t pitching he usually plays third base.

Sy’s fondest baseball memory came against the Coffee High Trojans this season. Tift and Coffee were playing in Douglas and Sy started at third base. When the starter ran into trouble, Sy came in to pitch and did very well. Tift won the game and ended up in excellent position for the playoffs.

One of Sy’s major goals for his senior year is to move into one of the top two places in his class. Sy has always been motivated to make good grades and has been an excellent student since he entered school. However, his father upped the ante with a friendly — albeit potentially expensive — wager: If Sy graduates as either valedictorian or salutatorian he owes his son a bass boat. “I took that bet quick,” Sy said.

Sy enjoys math and science as opposed to English and social studies. He describes trigonometry as “a lot of fun.” Physics is also a favorite subject of his. He is drawn to the practical applications of physics. “It’s real-life math,” he says.

Whether he cashes in and “wins” the bass boat, Sy’s grades have him in an excellent position as graduation approaches. He knows he’s not going to play football after high school, but he is hopeful that he may be able to play baseball. Sy may have to go the junior college route to continue his playing career, which is something he’s not opposed to doing. Just to be on the safe side, he’s been visiting colleges to keep his options open. Earlier in the summer he visited the University of Florida. He’s also traveled to Auburn and Valdosta State. “Florida is a very big school. And I did like Auburn,” he says.

Sy has grown up an outdoorsman. He has done farm work his entire life and loves agriculture. He’s not exactly sure what his future holds, but he wants to do something related to agriculture. Sy is considering Ag economics or forestry engineering from Auburn. “You’re pretty much guaranteed a job out of Auburn with a degree in forestry engineering,” he says.

Ten years from now, he sees himself settled into a good career with a family. “I want to find a job doing something I love,” he says. “I want to have fun every day I go to work.”  •