Mustangs' McElmurray signs with Kennesaw State
Feb. 2—When Earl Chaptman was handed the keys to the Midland Valley football team in May of 2021, he went right to work building up a program that had endured several consecutive rough seasons.
TJ McElmurray was more known as one of the key pieces of the basketball program at that time. He played some wide receiver and defensive back during the COVID-shortened 2020 season, and his pure athleticism was something Chaptman knew could be a game-changer for the program.
What he found was someone who would help lay the foundation for where the Mustangs are hoping the program goes in the future. This year McElmurray quarterbacked the Mustangs to their most wins in a season since 2015, and along the way college football coaches started to come calling.
Thursday morning he made his college decision official, signing with Kennesaw State University to study nursing and play wide receiver for an Owls program that is transitioning to the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision.
"I really had to have patience with the whole process of having schools come to look at me," said McElmurray, who said Thursday's signing ceremony felt like a dream. "When we got into the season, I was surrounded by good teammates and a good coaching staff. They trusted and believed in me, so every game I knew that I could just go out there and prove everybody wrong and have people one step behind me."
McElmurray said he was given the choice of playing quarterback or wide receiver in college. He chose to go back to receiver, and Owls head coach Brian Bohannon said he expects the 6-foot-4 McElmurray to be a huge difference-maker for them at that position.
His time playing quarterback has given him an understanding of how to be better as a wide receiver — one part of that is being where he needs to be and when in order to help out his quarterback, and the other is what he studied in defenses and what he had to look for on every snap.
McElmurray's freshman year will be a developmental year of sorts, the same way his new team will be developing as it moves up to join Conference USA for the 2024 season.
In a way, that will be similar to how he helped build up a Mustangs team that was going through a big transition of its own under Chaptman.
"When you have a guy as talented as he is who's willing to take that coaching and do those extra things, it makes it easier for the other guys to fall in line," Chaptman said. "They always say you've got to challenge your best players the most, and then everybody else understands why it's happening. I think, seeing the result of everything that's happening today and what's going to continue forward with his career, it kind of gives those guys an understanding that, hey, it's all worth it in the long run if we do the things that are required to be successful."
As a senior McElmurray passed for 1,012 yards and six touchdowns, and he rushed for 953 yards and 20 scores. He earned Class AAAA All-State honors, and he was named team MVP in both his junior and senior seasons.
Needless to say, Chaptman didn't have much trouble pitching McElmurray, who also surpassed 1,000 career points on the basketball court, to the college coaches who inquired.
"I told them he's as good as it gets, man. You don't have to worry about any issues off the field," said Chaptman, and boys' basketball coach Henri Perry backed that up when he said McElmurray carries a 4.2 GPA and hasn't even had so much as a lunch detention. "And then obviously athletically, he's tall, he's long, he's athletic, he can run, he can jump. He's smart. Playing the quarterback position, being able to do all the things that we asked him to do.
"I wish all of them were the way TJ is. I credit that to his family. They've done a phenomenal job with him. And just his leadership and his willingness to learn and to continue to get better I think is something that's just unmatched with kids his age at this time."
