Zach Crosby has already been dealt good news and bad news this summer.

After the rising Jefferson High senior attended a football camp at Georgia Tech on June 2, it was revealed he had a slight tear in his meniscus. It was a knee injury that only bothered him previously when he was sitting down.

“I had been ignoring the pain,” Crosby said.

The Dragons’ Division-I college football prospect will go to the doctor on June 19 to have his knee scoped and scar tissue removed, forcing him to skip future college camps he planned to attend at Navy, Western Kentucky and Kentucky.

He’ll also be forced to miss out on Jefferson’s weekly scrimmages this summer. His recovery period is expected to be 6-8 weeks.

“I’ll be out there hopping around on crutches for a couple of days,” Crosby said.

That’s the bad news.

The good news is that he should be ready for opening night in August. He’ll have a full season to compile an impressive tape to impress college scouts with his abilities as an athlete on both sides of the football.
Crosby (5-foot-9, 175 pounds) doesn’t want to hurry a return before he is ready. He wants to make sure he is ready to make his cuts on the field so he doesn’t compound any previous tear.

“There’s a lot of interest in Zach,” Jefferson coach Bill Navas said. “He’s a kid that it’s going to come down to his senior tape.

“He runs well, he’s physical, so if his tape looks good, he’s going to have a scholarship and not have to pay a dime for his college education.”

Crosby’s favorite school right now is The Naval Academy, and he plans to major in chemical engineering.

He also likes Georgia Tech, Georgia Southern and Middle Tennessee State, among others.

“I really like the schools in the south,” Crosby said.

With the injury, Crosby’s camp with the Yellow Jackets will be the only camp he gets to take in. Still, it was a positive experience getting to learn some of the groundwork of their option-based offense.

This season, Crosby plans to expand his versatility and play free safety for the Dragons. He’s already played all over the defense including cornerback for three years and some at linebacker as a junior. His most impressive numbers are on offense where he had 54 catches for 714 yards and three touchdowns last season.

Crosby ran for 308 yards (eight touchdowns) and added 361 yards in the kick return game for Jefferson.

I think he’ll probably be playing at corner in college,” Navas said.