Several months ago, Newton linebacker Jeremiah Bundrage was feeling the frustration of the recruiting process. 

It bubbled over to the point where he vented out his frustration on Twitter, declaring that he didn’t understand Why schools were still sleeping on him as a viable college football prospect.

It turned out to be a fairly short lived frustration, even before the offer to Wingate came through. 

“When that first happened, when I made that tweet, I was down on myself,” Bundrage said. “But my girl, my sister and everyone else brought me up, and they kept telling me to keep faith, keep faith, keep faith. And it brought me up and made me push harder.” 

Don’t expect that push to cease, now that Bundrage is on his way to greener pastures. 

Bundrage accepted an offer and signed and letter of intent to Wingate this past Wednesday after the Wingate coaches and recruiting staff found out about him and were immediately enamored at the potential they saw from the 6-foot-2, 220 pound middle linebacker. 

“They came up to the school and watched film with Coach (Terrence) Banks, and they loved it,” Bundrage said. “To this day, they still talk about what they saw and how much they loved my film. From there, we just kept in contact. I went up there for a visit and I just loved it.” 

Bundrage was named the Covington News’ defensive player of the year after a 2016 season wherein he was, in many respects, the quarterback of the Newton Rams’ defense from his middle linebacker position. 

Bundrage recorded over 100 tackles for the second straight season, and also tallied three sacks and four forced fumbles. During the season, Banks called him an irreplaceable cog to what was a fast, and at times stingy, Newton defense. 

Now that Wingate will soon be Bundrage’s new football, the senior said it’s only going to make him work that much harder to become the complete player he knows he can be. He’s not going to dust the chip off his shoulder any time soon. 

“It just feels amazing,” he said. “Still to this day I feel like a lot of people slept on me, and still are, but it feels amazing that someone finally bet on my talents and took me in.”