Myrtle Beach's Evan Jumper growing on way to senior season, Furman
So many PB-and-Js.
Evan Jumper, a 2019 offensive lineman who earlier this summer committed to Furman University, knew that his offseason between his 2017 junior campaign and upcoming senior year would be yet another time of packing pounds onto his athletic, 6-foot-4 frame.
But the Myrtle Beach High School product didn’t realize so many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches would yield a whopping 50-plus-pound weight gain, nor a subsequent fatigue for chowing down.
“I’ll be honest, through this whole weight gain thing, I absolutely hated eating,” Jumper told PalmettoPreps.com. “I had to do it so much every day for months and years.
“My sophomore year I weighed 185, and after our last playoff game (a narrow, 34-31 loss to Lower Richland on Nov. 10, 2017) I weighed 200 even. I’ve gained about 50, 55 pounds from that point on.”
Eating became more time-consuming even than the two-a-day workouts for Jumper, who amassed nearly 20 Football Bowl Subdivision and Football Championship Subdivision offers before he committed to Clay Hendrix’s Paladins program in June.
“Just a job, but it paid off,” he said. “We lost to Lower Richland, and after the season stops, I knew it came time that I got to start eating. I knew this summer would be big for recruiting, and I just had to suck it up and eat a lot of food. Protein powders, they just weren’t really doing it. They just weren’t working, kind of decided ‘Hey, just eat a lot of food. Just eat a lot of food. Make it fun where you can.’ I’ve probably ate two to three PBJs a day, juice with every meal. I had bacon and eggs with cereal or oatmeal, milk, grilled chicken breast, milk, juice, then I’d work out, work out again, pbj, milk, juice, dinner, and then another pbj at night.”
Finding preseason camp difficult to maintain some of those new pounds, Jumper said he’s holding steady now at about 245. Most importantly, he has his college decision behind him and can focus on the Seahawks’ goals, he said.
“Our team goals are always the same and as long as Coach (Mickey) Wilson is there, I think they’re going to be the same,” Jumper said. “We want to win region, beat Conway and win a state championship. …
“Over the summer I’ve just been working out, listening to my coaches, I didn’t really do many camps, which is a relief. Camp grind gets you. I think in fall camp, I’ve just really been working on pass pro, technique, keeping my head back, getting my punch right, stuff like that, not new stuff but important to improve. At Myrtle Beach we’re going to throw it a lot and I need to be ready.”
As for his pledge to the Paladins, Jumper said Furman provided everything he wanted in a school --- especially with, in essence, two offensive line coaches.
“I felt like it was the right time; I really just sat down and made a pros and cons list and this has everything I really need, everything I really want,” Jumper explained. “A lot of schools had kind of what I needed with some added fluff. You have to kind of look past and see what it really offers. I thought Furman was the best fit.
“Coach (Peter) Lusk took me in a film room on my visit, showed me the offense and I thought, ‘Wow! This is great.’ Furman literally runs everything in my opinion and it was fantastic. Coach Hendrix, out of all the coaches that I talked to, I guess a lot had been QBs or DBs or other positions, I love the fact he’s an OL guy. Having basically two position coaches, I think that’s awesome.”
After a 7-5 ‘17 campaign that ended in the second round of the playoffs, Myrtle Beach opens its season Aug. 24 when it hosts Hannahan High School.
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