By Stan Caldwell
stanmansportsfan.com
HATTIESBURG – John Rhys Plumlee likes being the center of attention, and when he makes a decision, he doesn’t hesitate.
He’s that way as quarterback for the Oak Grove High School football team, as centerfielder and leader for the Warriors in baseball and he was that way in the recruiting process.
“We went to a lot of places, to see what everyone had to offer,” said Plumlee. “Georgia had everything I wanted. They checked all the boxes. I want to see if I can play SEC football and play SEC baseball. It’s a challenge.”
Plumlee doesn’t look like a particularly big athlete – he’s listed at 6-foot-1, 185 pounds – until you stand next to him, and realize that this is one stoutly-built young man.
On the football field, that makes him a double-threat as a quarterback. Last season, despite suffering a broken left hand that sidelined him for two games, he still completed 128 of 202 passes (63.4 percent) for 1,759 yards and 18 touchdowns, and he ran 96 times for 795 yards and 13 more scores.
“I like to run the ball,” said Plumlee. “I didn’t run the ball as much early in the season, but we started putting things in the last couple of weeks for me to run the ball more.
“It’s really good when you can be successful running the ball. Teams really have to bite on the play-action and that opens up so many more windows for the passing game.”
This season, Plumlee has Oak Grove off to a 4-1 start, including last week’s 39-7 victory over George County in the Warriors’ Region 3-6A opener at Warrior Field. That has Oak Grove up to No. 7 in the Mississippi Gridiron Class 6A rankings.
So far, he’s completed 70 of 111 passes (63.1 percent) for 1,069 yards and 13 touchdowns and just one interception.
And while Plumlee’s emphasis in the early going has been on the passing game, he is still Oak Grove’s second-leading rusher with 374 yards on 40 carries (9.4 yards per carry) and 6 TDs.
“John Rhys had a really good season for us last year,” said Oak Grove head coach Drew Causey. “He’s a great kid, first-class all the way. He talks the talk, and he walks the walk.”
As team, however, the Warriors never really recovered from the injury that kept him out of action for two games and hampered him the rest of the season. Oak Grove finished 6-5 overall, but 3-4 in region play and missed the Class 6A playoffs for the second consecutive season.
That sticks in the craw of the Warrior seniors.
“It’s no secret; the last two seasons have not been as successful as we would like,” said Plumlee. “We’ve got a lot of motivation. As a class, we’ve always been successful.
“Talking to a lot of the guys, I think the team kind of dropped off after I hurt my hand, and it was tough to put it back together.”
That’s a big reason why Plumlee wanted to put his recruiting behind him. Causey said Plumlee’s stock soared at some spring showcases earlier this year, and SEC schools started taking an interest.
“He went down to a camp at Mississippi State and ran a 4.38 40, and he wowed a lot of people with that,” said Causey. “A lot of coaches told me, ‘the kid can play somewhere; we just have to figure out where.’”
Although SEC football coaches were impressed with his gridiron skills, it was Georgia that told him what wanted to hear most, that he’d be given the chance to play quarterback and play baseball for the Bulldogs.
And his statistics in the spring were as impressive as his football numbers from the fall.
He played all 28 games for the Warriors this past season, leading the team with a .455 batting average, 13 doubles, 35 RBIs and 23 stolen bases.
“I think people finally saw him at his best,” said Plumlee’s father, Denton. “Several SEC schools offered him for both sports, but we knew where we wanted to go. We really loved the Georgia campus, just everything about it.”
Plumlee made his decision public in mid-June, then turned his attention to the approaching season.
“It’s kind of like a girlfriend,” Plumlee told redandblack.com, a Georgia-oriented website. “You’re talking to some other girls, but you keep thinking about your girlfriend. I’ve never been one to run from competition. I think it makes you better.”
For Causey, the x-factor is Plumlee’s leadership skills. The Warriors follow his lead, and the coaches have no problem putting their team in his hands.
“Coaches get in front of some kids and they get kind of star-struck,” said Causey. “John Rhys, when he speaks, he looks you dead in the eye. (Alabama coach) Nick Saban was impressed just by talking to him.”
As good as the first half of the season has been for the Warriors – their only loss was to undefeated Hattiesburg, which is ranked second in the Overall Top 10 – the toughest part of the schedule is looming.
Upcoming this week is a trip across town to face archrival Petal, followed by a visit from always-formidable Meridian, currently ranked ninth in 6A. In October, the Warriors will host Brandon, the fifth-ranked team in the Overall Top 10 and third in 6A.
“We were a little sloppy on offense (against George County),” said Causey last week. “So we’ve still got plenty of room for improvement, and in our region, you have to be ready to play every week.”
