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Bison soon to be offensive Defender?
McCOOK, Neb. — Don’t look now, but Drew Daum may soon be attacking the position that made him a McCook Bison football leader during recent seasons.
College changes everything — especially when a future coach sees some new potential in the leading Bison tackler from 2019.
“We see so much Drew could do in a tight end or H-back position,” Dordt (Iowa) University coach Joel Penner explained during a phone interview with the Gazette this morning. “That’s our plan to start with him. We plan to use a lot of two tight end sets, one being a pass catcher and another being more of a blocker.”
“Drew’s such a tough competitor we feel he can be a good blocker for us right away,” Penner added.
The coach added his Defenders (7-4 record last year) had signed several linebackers before Daum made his decision official last week.
“A lot of it comes down to filling a need,” Penner said.
Perfect.
If anything has been true about Drew, he’ll fill any spot if it means one thing:
He’s on the football field!
Remember, Drew went from an admitted “chubby” junior high kid to “skinny little” freshman.
A skinny young Bison who stepped into special teams and — of all places — McCook’s offensive line.
Drew was soon starting upfront for a 2018 Bison that started 8-0 and embarked on another Class B state playoff run.
Just like college, McCook Bison coaches were seeing his potential on that other side of the football line.
“Drew was kind of roadblocked at linebacker by DJ (Gross) and Paxton (Terry), coach Jeff Gross said in reference to two other college football recruits. “Drew didn’t use that as a crutch. He said ‘I’m going to play special teams and offensive line.’ And by the end of the season, Drew was so talented he was rotating in at linebacker a lot.”
Drew only became bigger, stronger and better. No better example than the Beatrice-McCook game on Sept. 23.
A Bison with 27 career tackles entering 2018 made 19 stops, blocked one kick and even earned “Daum-inator” recognition from the silly Gazette sports hack.
Daum also recovered an onside kick to clinch McCook’s 21-17 victory while opening his own eyes about the future.
“I had no thought of playing (college) football,” he admitted. “After the Beatrice game, coach got talking to me and I started talking to dad. I decided I could pursue this football thing a bit.”
Oh how, Drew continued pursuing opponents to the total of 92 tackles (9.2 per game) with 58 solo stops, three quarterback sacks and 11 tackles for loss — all Bison bests.
“Drew was our guy. Our offense went as Drew blocked, and our defense went how Drew manned the interior,” Gross proclaimed. “I’m absolutely proud of him. He developed, he worked and he made his body into being an absolute warrior on the field.”
Plus Drew’s vision has been just as strong throughout his classrooom career at McCook High School. He earned all-GNAC for both his football and classroom work where Drew earned a 3.93 GPA last fall.
Several other schools have been pursuing Drew including almost all of Dordt’s GPAC football rivals like Concordia, Doane, Hastings and Midland Lutheran besides Chadron State.
However, none could match Dordt’s academic potential for Drew.
“I’ve always wanted to go into engineering and Dordt’s academics are unbelievable,” he said. “I can play football and do what I want to do without sacrificing anything. Their job placement for engineering is 100 percent success out of college.”
Penner also confirmed Drew “checked all the boxes” for student-athletes that Dordt University wants to pursue.
The Sioux Center, Iowa, school emphasizes a strong Christian and academic philosophy.
“We won’t be among the Top 10 party colleges anywhere,” Penner said. “We want great students who can thrive that first time away from home. Some kids admit this isn’t for them.”
“But Drew lit up when we talked about it.”
The Defenders also won’t forget Drew’s linebacking skills. Depending on the depth chart, he could certainly play linebacker during Monday night JV contests.
The football program’s been on an upward arc much like McCook football playing time for Drew.
Dordt struggled through a 2-9 season as recently as 2015 and endured another 5-6 season in 2016.
Yet they’ve gone 14-7 these past two seasons. Last year, the Defenders stormed through a four-game winning streak where they scored 209 points (52.2 per game) and allowed just 35.
They dominated Doane College, 61-0, and put a 35-0 defeat upon Concordia. Their season ended with one tough 31-28 loss to Midland Lutheran.
“We’ve gone from a bad team to a good team, but it’s tougher to become a great team,” Penner concluded. “Drew can help us do that.”