As a lightly recruited player years ago coming out of high school in Pearl, Mississippi, Sam Brumfield bet on himself, enrolling at Northwest Mississippi Community College with an eye on the future. 

Hardly living in the limelight, at a place that didn’t have the amenities and resources of bigger schools, Brumfield toiled away for three years, including through the COVID season, hoping to “get out of the mud,” as he put it, with a Division I offer.

“For most guys, that’s really the last resort,” Brumfield said of the juco level. “You’re fighting each and every day to try to find a new school, find that next level to get to.”

Brumfield did, landing an opportunity last season at Middle Tennessee, where he was a second-team All-Conference USA pick who led the Blue Raiders with 81 tackles. That included 10 tackles, a sack and a forced fumble for a safety in early-season games against Alabama and Missouri.

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