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The rapid arrival of Coronavirus in America beginning in early March forced student-athletes at Central Michigan University and colleges across the country to make plans for how they would spend their months ahead with shelter-in-place orders looming. 

But for Tyrone Scott, the 2018 graduate of Jenkins High School and rising redshirt sophomore receiver on the CMU football team, his plans were relatively easy to decide on.

“For me, it really hasn’t been a major change,” Scott told the Prep Sports Report in a recent text conversation. “I didn’t even come back home to Savannah, because I stayed up here in Mount Pleasant (where CMU is located) to be close to my dog.”

The dog, Apollo, should be in good hands with the electric and reliable wide receiver as his owner. It’s Scott’s hands, after all, which propelled him to a dynamite year last season in the MAC.

As a redshirt freshman in 2019, Scott played in all 14 games and started 10 for Central Michigan. He caught 37 passes for 650 yards and five touchdowns and led the Chippewas (8-6 in 2019) with a 17.6-yard average per catch -- good for fourth-best in the MAC. Still, he says he’ll have much more to offer in future seasons.

“I personally feel like there was a lot left behind last season. There was just too much unfinished business,” Scott said. “I know had much more than what I showed and provided for the team last season. 

“It was me … it was me and it was the way (CMU) played me. But I know for my 2020 season, it’s gotta’ be bigger. I’ve got to perform at an even higher level.”

For a player who has produced as much as Scott, his tendency is to internally downplay all that success and, instead, elevate any negativity sent his way by others. Sometimes, it seems, Scott is motivated more by what he hasn’t accomplished than by what he already has.

During his three seasons as a Warrior, Scott hauled in 106 catches for a grand total of 2,165 career receiving yards. And yeah, he also caught 22 touchdowns for Jenkins during the program’s best ever three-year run.

“I can look back at those times at Jenkins and say it was great to be a part of that class and those teams,” said Scott. “They are some good memories.”

The Warriors compiled a record of 29-7 from 2015-17. It was 22-3 from 2017-2018 during Scott’s junior and senior campaigns. In his senior season of 2018, Scott’s Jenkins team had completed its first undefeated regular season in school history while winning the Region 3-3A title. 

Jenkins had its deepest playoff run since 1966, reaching the GHSA Class 3A quarterfinals before eventually losing to Greater Atlanta Christian. All those positive results, and yet, Scott can still find something left undone to motivate him moving forward.

“Honestly, there is still a lot of stuff that … there’s still stuff that makes me angry,” he admits about his high school days. “Just knowing that, in Savannah, there was always somebody trying to put you down and no matter what I did, it wasn’t enough maybe.”

Scott, who said he “was always put second (at HVJ), never first,” is focusing on making each season better than the last, and each accomplishment a token of angst for his detractors.

“I just want to keep going further and further.”