By: Taylor Lawson
Freshman, Trae McCutchan, graduated high school in the Fall of 2021. Although she was set to be preparing for her senior prom this semester, she is preparing to be retrained completely by her coach, Chuck Crawford.
“I sat down with my guidance counselors in January of 2021 and told them what I wanted to do… I had to work a bit harder and take a few more classes, but it was worth it,” the young player explained.
McCutchan planned to graduate early so she could come to Middle Tennessee and play faster. After a small graduation ceremony in the auditorium of her Indiana high school, the now college freshman moved into the dorms on Jan. 9. However,even though she is from out-of-state, McCutchan still feels at home.
“Evansville, my hometown, is very similar to Murfreesboro, so it doesn’t really feel that different. We go to sports games whenever we can. It’s the same stuff that we do there,” McCutchan said.
Growing up, McCutchan was around sports almost all of the time. Her parents played sports in college and her siblings also took part in athletics.
My entire life has been sports, sports, sports… and keeping up good grades along the way. My parents coached basically all of my sister and I’s travel teams,” the freshman remembers.
Once Middle Tennessee found McCutchan’s highlight videos, it was like a match made in heaven. The player spoke to the volleyball coach, Chuck Crawford, and recruiting coordinator, Jenna Orner, about coming to Middle Tennessee and the rest was history.
“One phone call from them, and I was like, okay, I love them. I came down and visited and I knew I was coming here,” she said.
The 2022 Spring Season is the young player’s first District 1 season, so naturally, Crawford was excited to see his new recruit play.
“I’m excited to see how she handles Division 1 level, maturity wise. That’s the kind of thing I want to see from her because it is really important to have that in the fall,” Crawford said.
McCutchan is ready to show what she has been preparing for since childhood. She has been preparing for her first college season for a long time.
“I’m excited to get out there and show people what I’ve got, y’know? I’m ready for this,” the player said, looking determined.
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