Cummings trying to remain upbeat
City senior hopes lacrosse season can still be saved
The uphill battle for Baltimore City lacrosse programs is nothing new. Funding, interest and consistency are just a few of the annual obstacles.
Few hurdles, however, have threatened the building process for the area’s programs quite the way the shutdown surrounding the coronavirus has.
City lacrosse senior Makai Cummings is among the success stories being derailed by the unforeseen circumstances. During the preseason, before games were postponed, he had returned to the field for the Knights after rehabilitating a knee injury to serve as a leader for the team.
Committed to play club lacrosse at Morehouse College in Georgia next year, Cummings was ready to take center stage at City this season.
“I tore my ACL over the summer,” he said. “I’ve been working really, really hard to get back this season, and I’m in the best condition that I’ve ever been in all of my four years of high school.
“So for me not being able to play my senior year and this being my best year of lacrosse — just with my stick work, my
ected to be a late-round pick in the NFL draft, which runs April 23-25.
Cager reportedly met informally with every team but the New England Patriots at the NFL scouting combine in February. He then reportedly went back for a second round with the Buffalo Bills, Detroit Lions and New York Jets.
The possibility of playing in an NFL stadium is what Cager called “crazy.”
“It still has to happen though,” he cautioned. “So we’re on the back burner with that. But when you sit back and realize what you’re training for and working for as the ultimate dream as a little kid is here, it’s amazing.”
After earning All-Metro second-team status from The Baltimore Sun as a senior at Calvert Hall, Cager went to Miami. In his senior year in 2018, he led the Hurricanes in touchdown catches (six) and yards per reception (17.8), and amassed career highs in catches (21) and yards (374).
But Cager, who had another year of eligibility after sitting out his sophomore season after undergoing knee surgery, was unhappy with his last run at Miami.
“It was really on me,” he said. “I got a little unfocused, kind of settled a little bit and had some bad plays on some routine plays that I know I can make. So I just really honed my focus and came back with a different type of hunger.”
In February 2019, Cager announced he would transfer to Georgia, but he was unable to join the program until after he graduated from Miami in May. Still, after diving into film sessions with quarterback Jake Fromm and training under the watchful eyes of coach Kirby Smart and assistant head coach James Coley, Cager emerged as the Bulldogs’ top receiving threat.
Through their first 10 games, he led the offense in receptions (33) and touchdown catches (four). He compiled 132 receiving yards in a 24-17 win at Florida on Nov. 2, the most by a Georgia receiver in more than six years.
But during a routine play at practice Nov. 27, Cager suffered a broken ankle. Two days later, he underwent surgery that sidelined him for the remainder of the season, including a Dec. 7 game against LSU for the SEC championship.
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t upset because it was my senior year and we were about to play in the SEC championship next week,” said Cager, who played earlier despite a separated shoulder. “That’s one of the biggest games I wanted to play in.
“We already had juice, but me being able to play would have taken us over the top. We really could have competed with LSU.”
Smart noted that Cager arrived after the program had lost four wide receivers: Mecole Hardman, Riley Ridley, Isaac Nauta and Terry Godwin, who were all taken in the 2019 NFL draft.
“Lawrence gave us both the on-field production and the off-the-field leadership that we needed at a very critical position,” Smart said through a team spokesman. “His injury late in the season was unfortunate, but I’m confident he still has football in his future.”
Medically cleared about a month ago to return to train, Cager has been working out at Bommarito Performance Systems in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The coronavirus outbreak has prevented him from being able to demonstrate his health to NFL scouts, but he acknowledged that the pandemic has given him time to rehabilitate his ankle.
“Obviously, for the whole country it’s not a benefit, but from my perspective it’s a benefit,” he said. “It’s giving me more time to get healthy, more time to fine-tune some things that I haven’t done in four months. I’ve just been working hard every day to get back to being game-ready.”
Cager has chafed at reports critical of his speed, but Davis, his coach at Calvert Hall, said Cager has an innate ability to “get small.”
“Everybody thinks that big receivers are guys that can just climb the ladder,” Davis said. “He’s a guy that can go down and get balls, catch balls on the sidelines.
“He understands the game, so he knows how to manufacture first downs, how to get to the sticks and convert first downs. That’s the one big thing he can bring to a team.”
Despite projections as a Day 3 selection, Cager said he promises to help the team that chooses him.
“Whoever takes me whatever day and whatever round is going to get a player that is going to try to outwork every single person in that building — whether it’s a $100 million person or a practice squad player,” he said. “I’m going to come in and try to outwork everybody to prove that you didn’t just draft a backup player, but that you drafted a player who’s putting the work in to try to be an all-time great.”