Tragedy binds Deerfield football team on its college-tour road trip

DEERFIELD BEACH — The Deerfield Beach football team was on a campus tour at Notre Dame this June when a stop at the private Catholic university’s Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes brought out all the emotions the team was feeling.

The memory of fallen Bucks teammate T.J. Bradley, who died a week before graduation in a prom-night car accident on May 28 that also left junior cornerback Demetrius Palmer hospitalized for a month, weighed heavily on their minds. The team prayed together at Notre Dame’s candle-lit shrine for Bradley and for a speedy recovery for Palmer, who remained comatose in critical condition as the team took off on its 25-campus college tour.

“All the kids had heavy hearts. That was one of those ‘Wow’ moments,” Deerfield coach Jevon Glenn said. “It’s thousands of candles and you can go in and light a candle and say a prayer. We did it as a team, almost like a vigil.”

A summer tour of college campuses accomplishes many things for a high school football team: gives players next-level exposure, an opportunity to travel and see schools they otherwise couldn’t visit and provides team bonding with the season quickly approaching. Deerfield Beach got all that and more.

In the end, the Bucks’ prayers were answered as Palmer, a rising senior, was released from Broward Health Medical Center last week and rejoined the team to watch workouts on Monday. He began to regain consciousness as the team trekked through much of the Midwest.

Seeing social media posts from the team helped jog Palmer’s memory as he recovered. Wherever the college gave players jerseys to try on, someone was either wearing or holding up Palmer’s No. 7 prominently in a photo to let him know they were thinking about him.

“We all represented his number. I represented it, taking pictures in his jersey, giving him shoutouts on social media,” said outside linebacker Ge’mon Eaford, who wore No. 7 in a picture taken at Miami (Ohio). “With TJ, it’s sad that he’s gone. All he wanted to do was make it out the ’hood.”

Fellow linebacker Ashtan Pierre held up Palmer’s number in posts from Bowling Green and Toledo, as well as a second No. 7 jersey at Miami of Ohio. Glenn did the same at Louisville, the tour’s first stop.

A pair of Bucks committed to colleges while on tour – running back Jakari Norwood at Illinois and receiver Cornelius McCoy at Purdue. Both join Big Ten programs under new direction with former Western Kentucky coach Jeff Brohm now leading the Boilermakers and Lovie Smith in his second year at the helm for the Illini, which also recently got a commitment from Deerfield tight end Daniel Barker.

“[Purdue] showed me that my top five wasn’t as good as Purdue,” said McCoy, who was also considering USF, Temple, App State, Syracuse and Central Michigan. “I love it. It’s like Deerfield. Nothing but family. Nothing but love.”

Said Norwood: “[Illinois] basically showed me that I fit in good there. It’s a home environment for me.”

Eaford got to see three of his favorites on the tour — Michigan, which he calls his leader, Ohio State and Wisconsin. He wants to commit shortly after his junior season.