Photography by Steve Buchanan
When Romeo Edmonds tried out for the Glen Burnie High football team in August of 2020, he wanted to play a glamorous position. So, he chose wide receiver. It wasn’t a surprise since he’d lined up mostly at wideout all through rec football.
But after a couple of days of practice, the Gophers didn’t seem to have a quarterback capable of getting the ball consistently to the speedy Edmonds.
As a result, Edmonds volunteered to play quarterback. Three years later, the Glen Burnie coaching staff loves that Edmunds made that choice. “I can throw bullet passes,” a confident Edmunds says.
Edmunds has led the Gophers to a new level after years of struggling. Glen Burnie had a string of losing seasons, which was capped by a 3-7 record in 2021.
But he guided Glen Burnie to its first playoff win in school history in 2022 as the Gophers finished 6-5. This past fall, they were even better, going 5-2 (at the time of this writing), as he continued to dominate opponents with his arm and legs.
“He accelerated the growth of the program,” Glen Burnie Defensive Coordinator Tom Chroniger says.
The 6-foot-1, 180-pound Edmonds will also likely be one of the program’s few players to have played at a Division I school, and he will do it at a different position—cornerback. He’s is that athletic and good of a defensive player. Edmonds, who also competes in track and field, runs a 40-yard dash in 4.53 seconds.
“He’s had scholarship offers from Army, Navy, Air Force, and Howard,” says Glen Burnie Head Football Coach Alec Lemon, who is in his fourth season. “When I first saw him, I said, ‘This kid is going to be special.’ He certainly has been special the past four years.”
Edmonds has also been recruited by Villanova and Temple universities. He carries a 3.5 grade-point average.
Edmonds has wanted to play college football for a long time—since elementary school to be exact. “I was around nine years old when I first wanted to play college football,” Edmonds explains. “I started watching college football then. I want to be the first person from my family to play in college.”
One game in October gave fans a glimpse of how much of an impact Edmunds can have. Edmonds returned an interception 20 yards for a touchdown and recorded a sack and four solo tackles in a 21-14 loss to Broadneck, which had its 23-game county winning streak snapped by Old Mill in early October.
If there is such a thing as a moral victory, Glen Burnie’s performance against Broadneck was it. The Gophers lost to the same team in 2022 by 41 points.
“He just has a knack for making big plays,” Chroniger says. “This year, no one wants to throw at him. He is as close as you are going to get of a shutdown corner.”
Lemon adds, “Teams are scared to throw his way.”
Edmonds also is making a lot of big plays on offense. The quarterback threw 10 touchdown passes and ran for two more scores. Edmonds has totaled 1,343 yards passing and rushing combined. His best performance of the season came against Arundel in early September. Edmunds threw for 187 yards and three touchdown passes while rushing for 87 yards on 14 carries.
To help him stay in shape for football, Edmonds joined the outdoor track team his sophomore year to help stay in shape for football. He also competed for the squad last spring, running the 100- and 200-meters and on a pair of relay teams.
“I definitely have gotten faster and more explosive,” Edmonds says. That’s something that opponents didn’t want to hear.
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