Jeremiah Roux was a mere eighth grader when he was invited to join the Mundy’s Mill High varsity football team for its spring practice in 2021.

Roux had only been playing competitive football about a year, but performed well enough on the middle school squad to earn an early audition with the Tigers as a quarterback-safety. The experience left Roux imagining a career even beyond the varsity at the Jonesboro, GA, school.

“I started playing football kind of late, in the eighth grade,” Roux said. “At first I thought I was going to be a basketball player. But then I started running up against these 6-6 and 6-7 guards, and realized I needed to go with football.

“But after that experience in the spring game with the varsity I was like, ‘I can do this, and I want to play at the next level.”’

Roux’s dream became reality on June 30 when he made a verbal commitment to accept a scholarship offer from East Carolina on June 30 over a lengthy list of schools that also included Georgia Tech, Memphis, South Florida and Western Kentucky.

Although he got a late start in the game, Roux had been exposed to football growing up through family relationships. Originally from Tampa, Fla., Roux watched cousins Derwin James Jr. and Gregory Gaines III develop from high school stars to college players, and in James’ case to the NFL. James, a safety, played three seasons at Florida State before being selected in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft by the Los Angeles Chargers. He’ll be entering his eighth NFL season in 2025. Gaines, a wide receiver, was a four-star prospect in high school who originally signed to play at Iowa State. After two seasons there, he transferred to Football Championship Subdivision Rhode Island where he ranked second last season with 50 catches for 603 yards and three touchdowns. He’ll be a redshirt junior for the Rams this fall.

But the football connections don’t end there for Roux. His brother, Kendrick DuJour, will be a junior defensive lineman for East Carolina this fall after transferring in from Sam Houston State.

“You could say I’m following a family tradition,” said Roux, who earned a spot on the Mundy’s Hill varsity as a freshman. He saw his most action at safety but also served as a backup quarterback and receiver for the Tigers.

That versatility would become Roux’s calling card the next two seasons. He played quarterback, receiver, safety and punter as a sophomore for an 8-3 team that advanced to the Georgia 6-A playoffs. Roux was 1-for-1 passing for four yards, caught two passes for 19 yards, made 18 tackles and an interception on defense, and averaged 33 yards on five punts.

Those statistics increased dramatically last season. Roux was 5-for-10 passing for 27 yards, rushed 22 times for 45 yards and a touchdown, had 38 receptions for 540 yards and two scores and 112 yards on kickoff returns. Defensively, Roux made 34 tackles an a tackle for loss, while averaging 26.2 yards per punt.

The all-around performance led to a wave of scholarship offers between January 2025 and April, including ones from Kennesaw State, Georgia State, Troy, Appalachian State, USF, Georgia Tech, Buffalo, Tennessee State, Western Kentucky, Memphis, Howard, UAB and Liberty. ECU came into the picture last December when the Pirates’ outside linebacker coach, Rico Zachary, came by the school for a visit. Defensive coordinator Josh Aldridge returned in the spring and “after the third or fourth practice in the spring Coach Aldridge came and offered me,” according to Roux.

Roux narrowed his list of schools in early June to ECU, Troy, Western Kentucky, Memphis, UAB, USF, Georgia Tech and Georgia State. He would take official visits to USF on June 6 and Georgia Tech on June 13 before trekking to Greenville on June 19.

The players, school and town of Greenville made a strong impression on Roux during the visit.

“I just loved the energy,” Roux said. “Everywhere I’d go everybody was positive. You’d go in the weight room to work out and there was nothing but energy. People were clapping and supporting each other. And the city of Greenville is all about East Carolina. That was my main thing. Everything about the program, the school and the town was positive energy.”

East Carolina has recruited Roux to play the WILL linebacker position. He expects to join the Pirates in January 2026 after graduating from Mundy’s High.

When he gets to ECU, Roux will reunite with an old teammate — 2026 linebacker recruit Chad Fairchild from Hampton, GA.

“Chad and I went to middle school together,” Roux said. “Now we’ll get to play linebacker together at ECU.”

Roux and Fairchild are two of five players from Georgia who have given verbal commitments to ECU’s football recruiting Class of 2026. Safety Djimon McLendon from Tucker, safety David Coleman Jr. from Kingsland and receiver Dawson Quarterman from Loganville are the other Georgia prospects in the class.