Jake Tumblin waits for a hole to open in a game against Orcas Island this season. Seconds later, he was gone, having blown through the line like a rocket. (Shelli Trumbull photo)
How is it possible that Jake Tumblin has not received any college football recruiting offers yet?
Anyone who watched the Coupeville High School junior erupt for 407 total net yards and bust off four spectacular touchdowns in the Wolves’ season finale in Port Townsend Saturday — on a muddy, mushy field — can see the kid has wheels. Serious wheels.
First, he busted a 97-yard return on a kickoff, hitting the left sideline like a rocket, Chimacum defenders falling in his wake. Then he teamed up with quarterback Gunnar Langvold on three brilliant catch-and-run-like-a-bat-out-of-hell plays, piling up jaunts to the end zone of 47, 67 and 83 yards.
Again, on a field that left him all of his teammates looking like giant mud balls by games end. But, not even mud can stop Tumblin from runnin’, when he gets up a head of steam.
“It took a little bit to get used to,” Tumblin said. “But it came down to just taking small and quick cuts.”
The game, an offensive slug-fest that ended with Coupeville on the short end of a 56-39 tally, featured much yapping (most of it by an officiating crew apparently bothered by too-tight underwear). The resulting penalties and ejections are something the Wolves will need to work on, Tumblin said.
“We’re a very emotional team and we like to talk, that’s just how we play,” Tumblin said. “But it’s something we need to work on for next year because ultimately it moves the ball for the other team, and it doesn’t help in tight games like we had.
“Like I said, no stupid penalties, being assignment and fundamentally sound, and playing as a unit,” he added. “We have to win as a team, and if we lose, we have to lose as a team.”
At 2-8, the season didn’t play out exactly the way Coupeville would have hoped, but there were bright moments along the way. With a new head coach in Tony Maggio and a new offense in the wing-t, learning bumps along the way were to be expected, but there were also moments of great joy.
Primary among those for Tumblin was the team’s win at Langley, which gave the Wolves Island bragging rights, brought home a prized trophy and earned Coupeville a playoff berth over South Whidbey.
“The highlight of the season was definitely the South Whidbey game and bringing home The Bucket,” Tumblin said. “That was the most intense and productive week of practice that we had all year and it showed that Friday night. We all played like a team.”
With football season officially over, Tumblin is debating whether to play basketball or rest up for the spring, when the catcher and prodigious base thief will return to lead a very promising Wolf squad.
And the recruiting process? Tumblin remains low-key about the game.
“I haven’t had any recruiting interest, but hopefully my name will get out there,” he said.
If any college coaches watch film of him flying across the top of the mud against Chimacum, his name will start getting out there, no problem.
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