BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Two former Bradford High School football players participated in a meet-and-greet at Beef O’Brady’s in Starke on July 3 and are eagerly looking toward the 2025 college-football season — a season they hope sees them become contributors on the field as redshirt freshmen.
East Carolina University defensive lineman Torin Brazell and Purdue University defensive back Chalil Cummings, who are both 2024 BHS graduates, were available to pose for photos and hand out autographed photos of themselves at the Beef O’Brady’s event. Both players have a partnership with Beef’s, with the local restaurant offering a signature meal named after each player.
The first year of college football was tough for Brazell and Cummings, with both battling through injuries and having to adjust to not being major players on the field. However, they both still have four years of eligibility remaining. Cummings did appear in five games last year at the University of Memphis, but one was a bowl game, so he didn’t exceed the four-game regular-season maximum that would’ve prevented him from having a redshirt year.
Regarding his decision to transfer from Memphis to Purdue, Cummings said, “I just felt it was the best decision for me to make — play in a bigger league and make bigger and better plays. That was really it for me. Once I saw the opportunity, I just took it.”
Cummings said he also likes the level of competition Purdue plays. Purdue, which is a member of the Big 10 Conference (Memphis plays in the American Athletic Conference), is scheduled to play four teams that finished in the top 20 in the College Football Playoff Rankings and the AP poll. Defending national champion Ohio State and national runner-up Notre Dame are both on the schedule.
It’s not just a new start for Cummings. Purdue has a new head coach in Barry Odom.
Another new face on the Purdue staff is Defensive Backs Coach Charles Clark, who, like Cummings, was at Memphis.
In his year at Memphis, Cummings said he learned how to “grind through the week” and be ready to play on Saturday.
He also had to adjust to a higher level of play coming out of high school
“People are just stronger and faster (in college),” Cummings said.
Still, he didn’t view it as too big of an adjustment because he was simply continuing to play a sport that’s been a part of his life growing up.
“At the end of the day, it’s the game of football,” Cummings said.
Cummings said some of his goals for 2025 are to be named a Freshman All-American and to help Purdue win a championship. He added that the hurdles he faced in 2024 will only make him better moving forward.
“Minor setbacks lead to major comebacks,” Cummings said.
Brazell, who said his college career “started off a little bumpy” with an injury, found the college game to be 10 times faster than what he was used to in high school. However, a player has to adapt or get left behind. Brazell said it’s all about competing and being self-motivated.
“There’s no feeling sorry for yourself,” Brazell said. “It’s always on to the next play.”
At East Carolina, Brazell has been practicing against an offense that operates at a high tempo — a tempo he describes as two times faster than normal college speed.
“It’s helped me become better,” Brazell said. “Regular opponents won’t be as fast as what I face in practice every day.”
With a year of learning the playbook, working on his quickness and take-off from the line of scrimmage, and gaining weight and muscle, Brazell feels he’s put himself in good position to have an impact in 2025.
“I’m just trying to get on the field, get a couple of snaps in,” Brazell said.
One thing he’s ready to do is terrorize opposing quarterbacks. It’s something he hasn’t done since December 2023 as a BHS player.
“It’s been a minute,” Brazell said. “I miss hitting quarterbacks.”
Like Cummings, Brazell is also a part of something new, even though he hasn’t changed schools. East Carolina named former Defensive Coordinator Blake Harrell as its head coach. Harrell was the interim head coach after Mike Houston was fired after six games into the 2024 season. After a 3-3 start under Houston, the Pirates went 5-2 under Harrell, including a 26-21 Military Bowl win over N.C. State.
In his senior season at BHS, Brazell led the state in Class 2S in sacks with 17, which also ranked him 20th in the state regardless of classification. He had the fourth-most number of tackles for BHS with 62, which included 31 behind the line of scrimmage.
Cummings was Bradford’s third-leading tackler his senior season with 83. He had three interceptions and one fumble recovery.
