Koby Drake – The Greatest Grit & Grind Story You’ve Never Heard

Over one hundred years ago in a little town in Southwest Arkansas, the residents of Murfreesboro, Arkansas puzzled themselves over the unusual green-colored dirt found throughout their community. Geologists visited the area but couldn’t ever exactly determine what was causing this unusual circumstance to occur in the rural community of 200 people. A local man by the name of John “Diamond King” Huddleston purchased a section of the land in question and quickly discovered the first-ever diamonds located outside the continent of Africa. A phenomenon never previously heard of in the United States, a “diamond rush” to the area ensued and the town’s population jumped to well over a thousand residents by the 1950’s. Formed through intense heat and pressure, people from all walks of life flocked to this rustic region with the hope of getting their hands on those precious jewels that could change a man’s life for the better. The diamond became such a popular item in the state that Arkansas legislators elected to place the emblem on their state flag in 1913 and the state is still the only diamond-producing site throughout the world that remains open to the public.

A little over two hours east lies the town of White Hall, Arkansas, a place Koby Drake has called his home since the age of thirteen. Raised by his mother, Drake says he was taught the value of honest, hard work at a young age. “My mom always had very high expectations for me,” Drake said, “My family has never had a lot of money so you had to do good in grades. You either had to do really good in grades or play football or else I wasn’t going to get to go to college.” Ten years ago this week, Koby’s life changed forever. Following a short battle with lung cancer, Drake’s mother passed away on October 2, 2013. Koby was only 12 years old. He and his brother, shocked by their mother’s sudden passing, moved two hours from Rose Bud to their father’s home in White Hall. Koby had to enroll in a new school, make new friends, and strive to continue moving along with living a normal teenage life.

Determined to maintain the values taught by his mother, Koby said he immersed himself in sports and academics. “I just kept playing football, doing what I always did. I played four sports, stayed busy, continued to excel in the classroom and always kept a 4.0 (GPA) or higher.” Drake wasn’t a big kid, though. When he made the move from middle school to high school, Koby said he didn’t initially get much playing time due to his size. “My sophomore year, I’m like 5-foot-5, 110 pounds, super small,” Koby said, “I knew I was a good player, but I wasn’t going to get an opportunity going into high school ball.” Following a growth spurt in his junior year, Drake was placed on the defensive side of the ball, playing outside linebacker and defensive back. He gained playing experience at the high school level and moved over to wide receiver before his senior year. An all-state honoree in 2018, Drake said he ended up receiving “a couple FCS offers and a lot of D2 offers” by graduation.

Deciding to bet on his abilities, Drake elected to move out of state and walk on to play for one of the few Division One schools that gave him attention while in the high school recruiting process — the University of Memphis. His college experience got off to a less-than-ideal start, however. “Once I got here, I’m a real walk-on; they didn’t bring me in until the third week of the season”, Drake said, “you don’t even know your own (incoming) class, so you don’t, you know, feel really part of the team. I had a lot of confidence issues through that.” And while regular college freshmen were focusing on joining a Greek organization or finding the coolest on-campus hang-out spots, Koby was trying to figure out how to pay for his education. “I started working at FedEx, working night shifts,” he told Bluff City Media, “I worked 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. every day. I would get off (work), go to practice at 6 a.m., and then go get an hour or two of sleep.” Needless to say, Drake said, “That was definitely the hardest thing I’ve ever had to go through.” A Mechanical Engineering major, Drake stated he also tried his best to keep his grades at a level his mother would’ve wanted him to.

Having limited opportunities to work during the football season, Drake said he devised a summer saving plan that would allow him to briefly step away from his employment in the fall football season. His second January in Memphis, however, Drake ran out of money. Unable to make payments, Drake was evicted from his on-campus dorm room. “Thankfully I had a buddy that I knew and he let me stay in his house for eight months,” Drake said, “He had this little side room and it had a bunch of furniture in it, so I slept on the floor.” Koby continued his daily grind of football practice, class, and working the night shift at FedEx, all while “sleeping on an air mattress that didn’t really keep air.” Facing great adversity and pressure, Drake successfully pushed through his freshman year at Memphis.

In the Spring of 2022, Tim Cramsey arrived in town as the new offensive coordinator at Memphis. Drake hoped to have a strong off-season to catch the attention of his new OC and be placed on scholarship. “I had just had not a great season, but enough to maybe where I’d get put on scholarship. Cramsey gets there and I got hurt,” Koby said, “I tore my groin really bad and missed the whole spring except maybe two practices.” Immediately, Drake started working tirelessly throughout the rehab process. Working, studying, and rehabbing daily, Koby began to wonder if his body would be able to hold up through all the pressure. “I’m trying to live my dream out, but I start to think it’s not working out for me. You’re sleeping on the floor, you don’t have any money, you’re working your butt off but it’s not really paying off,” Drake told Bluff City Media.

He then received an unexpected text from Ryan Silverfield saying, “Come meet with me.” Koby recalled, “I walk up there and he tells me, ‘Man, we’re going to put you on full scholarship’. Obviously, I’m crying, because I didn’t know how I was going to pay to go to school that next semester because I didn’t make enough money during the summer. I had to pick up another job, actually, to try and make enough to go to school. It was just a huge relief obviously.” Finally able to focus more energy on football, Drake went on to appear in ten games in 2022, logging 13 receptions for 159 yards and his first career touchdown against Tulane. He was additionally named the University of Memphis representative as a Military Bowl 3M STEM Scholar-Athlete for the second consecutive year.

As a Redshirt Junior, Drake entered the 2023 off-season with high anticipation. With five of the six leading receivers from the 2022 roster leaving via graduation or the transfer portal, Koby had a tremendous opportunity to leap up the depth chart as a veteran on the team. Unknown to many outside the program, Drake was injured again shortly before the start of spring practice. “I tore my hamstring right before spring ball. So this was like two years in a row where I’ve had a major injury that has put me out for a couple months, essentially.” With pressure mounting again both physically and mentally, Drake considered walking away from the game for good. Having overcome so much in his life already, Koby decided to give his dreams one final shot after practicing through an injury this spring.

“I’m so thankful I did,” Koby told Bluff City Media. Through five games this season, Drake is two receptions and 17 yards shy of surpassing his season totals from last year. He additionally sits as a top 20 punt returner in the country and has emerged as Seth Henigan’s security blanket in the slot position. “It just means more when you know you came so far from the bottom. It’s been an uphill battle, just not in college, but in high school and before that.”

From losing his mother at an early age, living in a low-income household, and battling homelessness and injury all while playing Division One football and studying mechanical engineering, it’s easy to wonder how Koby Drake has made it this far. “I’m a big Christian; a big man of faith. I think God had a lot to do with it. He’s guided me and carried me along and given me strength,” Drake said, “I look back on the last few years of college — having to work and sleep on the floor — it’s just like, I don’t think I could do that again. Without God, I don’t think I could have (made it).”

Like a diamond, Koby Drake has experienced his fair share of pressure in life. Also like the diamond, he’s come through adversity stronger and better than anyone could’ve predicted. From a walk-on who was unknown even to his teammates in 2019 to one of the preeminent leaders of the Tiger locker room in 2023, Koby Drake hopes his story can inspire those in a city with many in similar circumstances as his own. “For me, this is why I do it. I want people to know my story and hopefully help others with that,” Drake concluded in our conversation, “I try to be and will continue to be (an inspiration).”