This is a printer friendly version of an article from The Item.com
To print this article open the file menu and choose Print.
Close
Article published: Jul 2, 2009 Manning's Cantey chasing his dream Monarch guard to play for Georgia Military
Manning High School's Rick Cantey was a late comer to the world of college football recruiting. The offensive guard did not receive any attention until the 2008 football season, his senior year.
In that period of time, however, the 6-feet, 4-inches, 330-pounder, said he received offers from Football Bowl Subdivision schools such as South Carolina, Clemson, Michigan and Georgia, thus whetting his appetite for playing on college football's grandest stages.
So when Cantey found out he wasn't going to have the necessary test scores to be able to play at an FBS school out of high school, he never considered going to a Football Championship Subdivision school, for which he would qualify academically.
He turned his attention to attending a junior college, which would offer him the opportunity to transfer to an FBS school after two years. Cantey chose Georgia Military College in Milledgeville, Ga.
“I wanted to go Division I (FBS),” said Cantey, who said he had a scholarship offer from FCS school South Carolina State. “I knew I could come here, do what I had to do to get myself straightened out (academically) and be able to move on after a year and a half.”
Cantey is already in summer school at GMC, which has one of the top JC football programs in the country.
“Everything is going good so far,” he said. “I'm going to class, lifting weights, running, doing some cone drills. Everything is fine.”
Cantey, who played in the SCADA North-South All-Star Football Game, graded out at 89 percent and had 42 knockdown blocks in nine games for the Monarchs. He missed four games after having his appendix removed.
Cantey wasn't really dreaming of offers coming in as he went into his senior season. There was no reason for him to think as much.
“I became known this year, when I started getting the offers and everything,” he said. “I was shocked when I started to get them. It was a game against Hanahan (a 40-25 victory in which running back Jason Witherspoon rushed for 226 yards) where I started getting noticed.
“Also getting picked to the all-star game and playing well helped me as well.”
Reach Sports Editor Dennis Brunson at dennisb@theitem.com or (803) 774-1241.