St. Mary’s Bousum chooses Army
Defensive end spurns Navy despite great love for program
Jack Bousum couldn’t have been in a more quintessential Navy situation when Army lit up his phone.
The St. Mary’s senior answered the call on a boat in Annapolis with an offer from Navy football already in hand. A week after the Midshipmen called Bousum, Black Knights tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator Matt Drinkall told Bousum that they liked his film and size.
“‘We could really use you,’ ” Bousum recalled the coach telling him. They didn’t need a response then; Bousum got back to hanging out with his friends and then took a visit to West Point. It just felt like home up there, he said.
“I think he’s perfect for a service academy,” Saints coach Jason Budroni said. “He’s tailormade for it.”
On Wednesday, Bousum put pen to paper on a spread that held his Army West Point offer on one side and black-and-gold “BEAT navy” brandished on the other. His was one of several notable college football signings in Anne Arundel County during the first day of the early signing period Wednesday, as Chesapeake’s Victor Listorti (Navy), Spalding’s Kellan Wyatt (Maryland) and Lavain Scruggs (Maryland) and Severna Park’s Trey Smack (Florida) also made their commitments official.
Bousum said he loved Navy. He has former teammates wearing the blue-and-gold, lived down the street from the Naval Academy his whole life and has Mids assistant coach Ashley Ingram living in his neighborhood. The St. Mary’s senior thought highly of everyone he spoke with at Navy and looked at them as role models. He also thought as much of the people at Army.
“But I want to challenge myself,” Bousum said, “and try something new in an area where I haven’t been before.”
Though Bousum received unconditional support from his family and closest friends for his choice, he was also faced with a healthy dose of surprise from his community. They didn’t understand, he said. There are several St. Mary’s athletes bound for Navy, Bousum said, and felt it’s kind of expected to continue a Saints athletic career in Annapolis.
So Bousum reached out to Patrick Dunleavy, a former St. Mary’s lacrosse player who’s now a freshman at West Point.
“I asked him what made him choose Army. And he said the same thing,” Bousum said. “He didn’t want to do the classic what every Annapolis kid wants to do: go to Navy. That wasn’t me.”
Bousum expects he’ll be used at his current position, defensive end, as well as Army’s “dog” role — a blend of outside linebacker and defensive end, or an edge rusher. Junior linebacker Andre Carter currently plays that role for the Black Knights and has 14.5 sacks on the year.
And no, watching Army lose to the Mids this past Saturday did not change Bousum’s mind.
“It’s always a toss-up because both teams are going so hard,” he said.
Budroni felt unbridled pride for Bousum as he signed, as he did before for Jamie Romo and Timber Berzins, two Saints who chose to further their academic and athletic careers at the Naval Academy.
“It’s great. That’s the whole point of the program, to get them to as many schools as we can,” Budroni said. “It’s great to see them go to service academies, to play America’s game as they [Romo] did last Saturday. Biggest game of the year. We’re super proud.”
About an hour after Bousum signed his NLI, Smack, joined by his family, coaches and staff, tried on a few Gators hats before signing his promise to becoming Florida’s next starting kicker.
Smack gave his coach, Mike Wright, a new experience. Despite Wright’s many years of coaching from assistant to head at Severna Park, he’d never once gotten the chance to watch one of his products sign to a Division I school.
He joked with Smack: imagine what could’ve happened if you’d quit soccer as a freshman and played football all four years?
“It was extremely rewarding,” Wright said. “To see where he’s come, how much hard work he and his family put into it and just representative of how far the program’s come.”
Smack, a unanimously chosen first-team kicker and punter by Anne Arundel coaches, announced his commitment to Florida before the start of his senior season. Yet, even with his college squared away, Smack added dimensions to his game this past fall.
He took on roles at corner back even against Broadneck, when Falcons began to fall like flies, as well as wide receiver, where Wright said he “stretched the field.”
“Honestly he was the best athlete on our team,” Wright said.
But Smack’s role as a kicker took on a new height this fall, too.
“He’s always understood football and that kind of thing, but understanding in the context of the game — he’s just picked up on that immensely,” Wright said.