Eagles high school memories: Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie
It was not until his senior year that Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie blossomed as a high school football player. Until then, circumstances were such that he had not stayed in one place long enough to even play with any regularity. He attended four schools in 4 years (one of them twice). DRC says, "It was no fun. I was always the new guy."
Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie
Cornerback
Lakewood Ranch High School
Bradenton, Fla.
It was not until his senior year that Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie blossomed as a high school football player. Until then, circumstances were such that he had not stayed in one place long enough to even play with any regularity. He attended four schools in 4 years (one of them twice). DRC says, "It was no fun. I was always the new guy."
So how did that happen?
Because his father, Stanley Cromartie, was a basketball coach in the Orlando area, DRC attended Edgewater High School his freshman year. Lake High Preparatory Academy offered him a scholarship his sophomore year but withdrew it before his junior year because of a lack of funding. So it was back to Edgewater. However, the football team was very strong and had trouble breaking in to what had become an established lineup. So he left there at the end of his fall semester and began living with his mother in Bradenton, Fla., where he attended Lakewood Ranch High School. Only a few credits shy of earning his diploma his senior year, he completed his course work that summer at Center Academy.
"Moving from place to place was hard for him," says Melissa Rodgers, his mother. "No sooner would he get settled in a place, he would go to another school and another football program and prove himself again. He knew he had athletic ability, but it got frustrating for him. I remember there were days he wanted to quit. But we told him just to hang in there."
DRC excelled his senior year at Lakewood Ranch High School as a defensive back and wide receiver. He was even better running track, where he won every event at the county meet, including the long-jump, high-jump, triple-jump, 100-meter and 200-meter events. But college recruiters overlooked him, in part because of his inability to establish his skills at an earlier juncture. He ended up playing on scholarship at Tennessee State because of a relationship his father had with then-defensive coordinator Rod Reed, now head coach. DRC says, "[Reed] said I could play for him, so I jumped at the opportunity."
DRC became a starter there his freshman year.
"What I learned in high school was how to have patience," he says. "I knew my time was going to come. And it did."
-Mark Kram