It’s not a stretch to say that Cherokee County junior Coty Blanchard has been having a great summer.

Back in May, the quarterback had a rare opportunity to throw to former Warrior and current Jacksonville State senior standout kick returner/receiver Maurice Dupree, who came home to help Blanchard with his passing.

Word has spread to JSU about how talented Blanchard is. Last weekend, he was invited to a football camp at Paul Snow Stadium for upcoming seniors, but the Gamecock coaches wanted a first-hand look at a potential future player.

Blanchard said he’s received scholarship offers from the school, not only in football, but in baseball as well.

Looking at his numbers in both sports, one can see how talented Blanchard is.

He passed for 1,500 yards and 13 touchdowns at quarterback as a sophomore. As a shortstop in baseball, Blanchard batted .416 with 22 RBI and scored 30 runs.

“It feels good to know that people actually are looking at you,” Blanchard said. “It felt good to have the coaches come up to me and greet me in front of everybody (at the camp). I wasn’t even supposed to be there. It was just a senior-only camp, but everyone was looking at me. It was fun.”

Blanchard said he was nervous going to the camp, but his nerves calmed down after he ran a 4.7 in the 40-yard dash. He also had a vertical leap of 30 inches.

That’s not surprising to Dupree, who has talked to Blanchard about attending JSU.

“I think Coty’s going to be a pretty good player,” Dupree said. “He’s got a strong arm, and he’s a pretty good athlete. He might have a little pressure on him (this season), but I think he can handle it.”

The JSU camp was the first college football camp Blanchard had ever attended, and only the second time he has had the opportunity to play on artificial turf. Blanchard and the Warriors took part in a 7-on-7 passing camp at Gadsden City High School, which also has turf, back in late June.

“It was a little different,” Blanchard said playing on the artificial surface. “I felt faster on it. It got hot, but I like that turf.”

Besides liking the turf, there’s other things that are attractive to Blanchard about JSU. Blanchard said his father, Fran, also played at JSU from 1980-83.

But right now, Blanchard is just enjoying what this season holds in store for him. After all, he still has another year left before making his college plans official.

“I’ll wait this season and see what happens, then I’m sure I’ll have a better understanding when the season ends,” he said. “I don’t have to worry about doing too much, just go out there and do what I can do and let whatever happens happen.”