Junior college football is an enigma. Most college football fans or Florida Gators fans will hear about a junior college prospect and think, sure, that gives us a player ready to come in right away and help. Fans in the SEC fear the dreaded math course that has sent some junior college athletes packing to conferences with less stringent academic requirements, but for the most part life as a junior college athlete is a mystery.
Director Greg Whiteley spent the fall of 2015 in Scooba, Mississippi, population just over 700. The six-part Netflix documentary is equal parts informative, entertaining and sobering. Players on the back-to-back Junior College National Champion Eastern Mississippi CC Lions are shown in completely raw documentary form. You see players working through grueling injuries, taking ice baths in plastic tubs that sit atop patchy grass under a rickety looking wooden overhang. Cameras watch players skipping and struggling with school all for a chance to potentially be seen and maybe, just maybe, get the opportunity to earn a scholarship at a bigger school.
What the show didn’t reveal is that EMCC has it good compared to other junior colleges.
“It’s really accurate,” Florida junior college transfer Dre Massey said of Last Chance U. “There’s a lot of JUCOs that struggle a lot more. You’ve gotta understand that they don’t struggle as most because they’re winning.”
Massey put together an incredible senior season at Mauldin High School. His team’s quarterback, he threw for 2,789 yards and 28 touchdowns, adding 2,050 rushing yards and 34 more scores. He averaged 25.4 yards on seven punt returns, 24.7 yards on 11 kickoff returns with a touchdown. Those are season stats, not career. In a 83-70 win over Boiling Springs, Massey rushed for 354 yards, threw for 213 and scored, wait for it, 11 touchdowns.
Massey signed with East Carolina but a problem that had plagued him his whole life led him to junior college.
“He had that ADHD and struggled a lot with understanding and comprehending things,” Massey’s mother, Angela Payne told Gator Country. “It was a challenge but through the grace of God he made it through. He just has to make sure to keep studying and when things get hard ask questions.”
Massey didn’t qualify at East Carolina, sending him 545 miles west to Goodman, Mississippi and Holmes Community College. Mauldin isn’t as small as the town shown in Last Chance U, but moving to Mississippi was a culture shock. On top of being at a place where “there’s nothing to do but go to class and play football,” according to Massey, it also made him question what he was doing.
“You ask yourself if you really want to do this,” Massey said of his experience in junior college. “It’s so tough out there; sometimes you eat the same meal twice in a day, or same meal all month. It’s just so hard. It’s a lot of great players out there too, it’s easy to get discouraged and I just kept fighting and talking to my mom a lot.”
The road wasn’t easy. Due to the distance and how remote the campus was, Massey’s mother, who never missed a game in high school wasn’t able to be there to see her son play. She wasn’t there to help him through class, or be there for him when he started questioning if everything he was going though was even worth it.
“I’ve seen my child with tears and getting frustrated,” she said. “Nobody saw those tears but me.”
Massey pushed forward both in the classroom and on the field. He put together a solid sophomore season at Holmes. When asked about the Netflix Documentary he smiles, “we almost got them boys.” East Mississippi beat Holmes 44-28 last year but Massey shined. He rushed for 79 yards on 10 carries and hauled in three passes for 139 yards and two touchdowns.
Aside from Florida Massey entertained offers from ECU, Oklahoma, Virginia Tech, South Carolina and the home state South Carolina Gamecocks. He officially visited Florida in November for the Florida State game and committed to the Gators the next day. Massey finished at Holmes and enrolled at Florida in the spring of 2016 with one thing in mind.
“I think it’s that feeling of ‘you gotta go now,’” he said. “Just knowing you don’t have as long as the freshmen that’s here or other players that have been here. It’s just a feeling of urgency, you don’t have time to waste.”
Life in Gainesville is drastically different from what it was the last two years.
Before fall camp began a shipment of Nike gear arrived. The players and coaches receive shoes, cleats, slides, shirts, shorts, you name it; if Nike makes it, they shipped it to Florida. Overwhelmed, Massey grabbed his phone. “I actually took a lot of pictures and videos and stuff. I just love it.”
Having walked the road less traveled, Massey is thankful and appreciative of the position he’s now in. So much so he had the Gator head logo tattooed on his wrist.
I’m just proud to be here,” he said of the new ink. “It’s been a long journey and I don’t want to lose it.”
Massey’s ability and attitude will assuredly make him an impact player for the Gators this season. He wants to return kicks and is challenging for a starting spot in the slot on offense. Given the distance, his mom will be able to attend his games this year, something that brought a smile to both of their faces when asked when it would mean to have that connection again. Angela has been Dre’s rock, even if he didn’t tell her how hard times were in Mississippi because he didn’t want to worry her. She was in the stadium, overcome with emotion and tears when number nine walked out of the South endzone tunnel. She’ll be in the stadium again for the season opener.
“Oh my God,” Payne said when asked what the season opener will be like for her. “That’s going to be the best ever. I’m about in tears just thinking about it. It’s been so long, I’m just ready.”
Nice article Nick! I’m going to be rooting for Dre.