Hum-ming right along (09/08/03)

RICHMOND — It’s fourth-and-two, and your team has seen a 14-0 lead dwindle to five points. What do you do?

Well, you call on your freshman quarterback, of course.

In most cases even having a college freshman starting at quarterback would seem silly. But, Cameron Hummel is not your average freshman

Not only did the Jay County graduate get the first down, he rewarded first-year head coach Ted Karras with a 44-yard touchdown run. The score started a 20-point eruption for the Rose-Hulman Engineers as they rolled to a 34-16 win over the Earlham College Quakers Saturday night.

Not surprisingly, Hummel was in on all three scores in the closing minutes of the first half.

“All game their ends shot down,” said Hummel, who faked a handoff inside before scampering to the end zone on the fourth-down play. “I guess everybody thought they had him tackled, and I just ran around the outside.”

Hummel just ran all over the Quakers, leading his team with 119 yards on 11 carries, a 10.8 yards per carry average. He was only 7-of-23 passing for 102 yards, but his leadership at the end of the first half was more than enough for a Rose-and-White win.

The Engineers’ defense gave Hummel the ball back about a minute after he scored the first touchdown of his collegiate career with 2:29 to go in the first half.

Starting from the Earlham 48-yard line, the next drive was all about Hummel. He started with a 19-yard run, and followed a Charlie Key 9-yarder with eight more yards of his own.

Then he broke the goal line again, bursting around the left end for a 12-yard touchdown with 23 seconds to go in the half.

Earlham fumbled the ensuing kickoff, and Hummel made the Quakers pay one more time. With just 20 seconds to work with and 36 yards to go, Hummel drilled Key with a long pass over the middle.

Key fumbled at the 3-yard line, but Matt Horne fell on the ball in the end zone to give the Engineers a 34-6 halftime lead.

“You see why Cameron Hummel is my starting quarterback now,” said Rose-Hulman coach Ted Karras. “He took a mid-line option on the fourth-and-two all the way, ran for another one and threw for one.”

And Hummel did all that after leading the Engineers to scoring drives of 71 and 48 yards on his first two collegiate possessions.

“I’m not going to get cocky, but it was definitely fun,” said Hummel, who handed off to Key on five- and one-yard runs to end the first two drives. “It was a great experience.”

One could hardly imagine a better start for the former Patriot, who led Jay County to its first winning season in 15 years in 2002. He pumped his fist after the first scoring drive, jumped up and down after his 44-yard run, and was beaming as he stood near the Engineers’ bench discussing his first game.

He wasn’t the only one beaming either. There was also the crowd of about 40 fans who made their way from as close as Jay County to as far away as Canton, Ohio (250 miles) to watch Hummel play.

The pride was visible on every face as they waited to visit with the star of the night.

“He came in a did a great job for us,” said Karras. “I can’t wait to keep coaching him. He’ll keep learning our system and keep getting better.”

Sophomore Jason Dickey better get used to being a backup quarterback, because Friday night Hummel served notice that he will be calling the shots for the Engineers for the next four seasons.[[In-content Ad]]