Football Recruiting Report Thursday, May 29, 2014 By Sammy Batten

Future Pirate living up to family name

Offense, defense both an option for Grand Strand standout Colby Gore

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By Sammy Batten
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The last name Gore has been a common one for years in the North Myrtle Beach (SC) High School football program, but one particular clan by that title has distinguished itself longer than most others with the Chiefs.

North Myrtle Beach defensive back-wide receiver Colby Gore became the latest in a line of family members to earn a chance to play college football on May 16 when he accepted a scholarship offer from East Carolina. Gore made the decision over Charlotte, Coastal Carolina, Limestone, Marshall and Old Dominion just less than three months after the Pirates became the second school to offer (Charlotte jumped in on national signing day, Feb. 5).

"He received several other offers, but he seemed to be excited to go to Greenville and play football,'' said former North Myrtle Beach head coach and current secondary coach, Denver Cromer. "East Carolina has always done a really good job recruiting the Grand Strand region because it is relatively close to Greenville. It's just as close as going to any other North Carolina school, and not much further than going to the University of South Carolina. It's (ECU) almost a local school, and they've done a good job getting kids out of this area.''

The Pirates have indeed recruited the Grand Strand area with intensity during Ruffin McNeill's tenure as head coach, but they've had far more success in the areas from Columbia to the West. Their most recent Grand Strand signee was Myrtle Beach wide receiver Donte Sumpter, who came in the recruiting Class of 2011. Sumpter left the program in 2012 after his redshirt freshman season.

Hopefully, Gore will stay around Greenville a bit longer because he's a versatile athlete who could develop into a big-time college player on either side of the football.

The 6-foot, 180-pounder isn't the first in the Gore family to display that kind of potential. Two older brothers played college football and his uncle, Milton Gore, played for two NCAA Division I-AA championship teams at Georgia Southern. Milton Gore is now an assistant principal and sometime football coach for the Chiefs, according to Cromer.

"Here at North Myrtle Beach we've had a lot of players with the last name Gore,'' Cromer said. "They have a long history of football excellence in his family. He (Colby Gore) joined our program in the ninth grade, but he's basically been around it all his life.

"So it was no surprise when he came to us in the ninth grade that he'd be a good player for us.''

The only issue was Gore's stature. When he arrived at North Myrtle as a ninth grader, "he was a rather small kid,'' Cromer said. "He kind of moved like a great athlete, but we wondered how big he was going to get.''

While awaiting a growth spurt, Gore spent his freshman season playing for the North Myrtle junior varsity. But by his sophomore season, Gore moved to the varsity secondary in 2012, where he quickly became know as a ball hawk. He intercepted six passes in 2012 to rank among the best in the region as the Chiefs finished 4-5.

Gore and North Myrtle Beach made distinct improvement in their performances last season. Playing both wide receiver and safety, Gore caught 25 passes for 350 yards and two touchdowns while making 48 tackles and eight interceptions. Three of those interceptions he returned for touchdowns as North Myrtle Beach went 9-3 and advanced to the second round of the state playoffs. The effort earned Gore a spot on the Myrtle Beach Sun News Toast of the Coast defensive team.

Big plays were Gore's specialty. During a 48-20 win against Wilson in October, he started the game by returning the opening kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown. Then, as the first half drew to a close, Gore picked off a pass and raced 79 yards for another score.

But it was in a 52-35 first-round state playoff victory against Orangeburg-Wilkinson that Gore made the play Cromer called the key to a major upset in the South Carolina playoff ranks.

"We were a fourth seed against a one seed,'' Cromer said. "We were supposed to be a big underdog. But on an early possession in the first quarter, Colby picks off a pass and takes it right down the sideline about 70 yards for a touchdown. That was the spark that kind of ignited us and gave us the belief that we could win that game. We pulled a sizable upset because of that play.''

North Myrtle Beach's success proved a negative in one way as it led head coach Perry Woolbright to depart his post in May for the same job at Batesburg-Leesville, which won the state Class AA Division II title last year. That left the Chiefs without a head coach during spring practices, although Cromer is one of three former head coaches remaining on the staff.

Whoever is hired for the 2014 season will inherit a solid squad, led by Gore.

"We have a good core of players returning,'' Cromer said. "Right now we do have some depth issues because we lost a really good senior class. We finished the spring with a lot of young guys coming up to fill some roles.

"Colby will be a focal point on both sides of the ball as a senior. He's been a great player on offense for us, but we've always had a significant number of skill players. So this year his numbers on offense should be much higher.''

Gore could wind up playing offense or defense for ECU.

"My impression is they have been looking at him as a receiver,'' Cromer said. "But he also has the ability to play defensive back. Like any other Division I program, when you get an athlete who is a good all-around athlete like Colby, you may find he fits your needs better on the defensive side of the football.''

Gore is the fourth rising high school senior to make a pledge to ECU's Class of 2015. A fifth player committed a week after Gore in linebacker Danny Thomas from Godby High School in Tallahassee, FL.  A report is forthcoming on Thomas, a 6-2, 220-pounder who put up some incredible statistics as a junior for Godby.

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PAGE UPDATED 05/28/14 02:11 PM.