Pair of Waccamaw standouts to reunite as opponents at Orange Bowl

The Orange Bowl will be a reunion of sorts for a pair of former Waccamaw High standouts.

Though they are redshirt freshmen and won’t play despite suiting up, Clemson’s Jerome Maybank and West Virginia’s Alex Burdette will see each other for the first time in a while Wednesday.

“It will be really cool to get to walk over there and shake his hand and get photos with him with our jerseys on,” Burdette said of seeing Maybank. “It was the third or fourth last week of the season they were talking about bowl matchups. (West Virginia] coach (Dana) Holgorsen said there had to be a lot of things to happen for us to be (in the Orange Bowl) and for it to happen is a pretty amazing ride, especially being able to play an old teammate.”

Burdette – a walk-on defensive back – and Maybank – a scholarship defensive lineman – have been good friends ever since the Burdettes moved to the area from West Virginia while Alex was in fourth grade.

“Alex and Jerome hit it off real quick,” Burdette’s father and Waccamaw assistant football coach Robert Burdette said. “I remember the day he came home and told me (Alex) won class president and Jerome campaigned for him. I can’t tell you how excited we are for (Alex), not only as a dad but as a coach. It could very well be a once in a lifetime thing. I’ve been keeping in touch with him and I got butterflies when he told me about them heading to Sun Life Stadium.”

Alex was speechless when it came to arriving for the Orange Bowl.

“It’s unreal,” he said. “You get here and you’re in this amazing hotel in Miami on the beach. Everyone here treats you like a rock star and you get gifts. It’s just amazing.”

Robert Burdette said Maybank has become like one of the family over the years.

“Jerome has come with us a couple of times back to our hometown in West Virginia to go camping,” Burdette said. “He has stayed at my mom’s house a couple of times, too. Even my friends in West Virginia are proud of (Alex and Jerome) because they watched them grow throughout the summers.”

Burdette and his friends aren’t the only ones happy for the pair of Warriors.

“Our school is full of real good people and they are all real proud of them,” Burdette said of the students and faculty at Waccamaw. “There are more Clemson fans than West Virginia, but they are all very proud and there has been an excitement throughout school even before break.”

Junior kicker Spencer Benton, who graduated from Myrtle Beach, and junior linebacker Jonathan “Tig” Willard, who is a Loris graduate, also will suit up for the Tigers. Benton – who is a kickoff specialist – is Clemson’s all-time leading tackler among kickers with 15 and has 11 touchbacks on the year. Willard has 69 tackles with 2.5 for a loss.

The Burdette-Maybank tandem, meanwhile, will be friendly foes for this day.

Maybe down the road they’ll team up again, perhaps even in politics, where they have a solid track record.

“I think Jerome was the strong arm,” joked former Waccamaw football coach Burney Bourne of the 6-foot-4, 345-pound Maybank.