E-mail coach Plummer (rrp34@cornell.edu)
Roderick Plummer enters his third season on head coach Jim Knowles[apos] staff and will again take control of the special teams while spending his second year coaching defensive backs. Plummer began his career at Cornell as running backs coach in 2004. His addition to the coaching staff has paid immediate dividends.
The 2005 season was a banner one for Big Red special teams play. Place-kicker A.J. Weitsman set five school records, including field goals in a season (14) and extra-point kicks in a career without a miss (42). Cornell captured two Ivy League Special Teams Players of the Week, bringing the total to five in two seasons. His defensive backs allowed just 173.0 passing yards per game, good for 23rd nationally and second in the Ivy League. Cornell also intercepted 10 passes.
Cornell special teams set a record with eight kick blocks in 2004, while the kick return squad averaged 20.6 yards, its highest total since 1978. The Big Red enjoyed outstanding years in the kicking game as well, as Cornell kicked eight field goals and Trevor MacMeekin was named Ivy League and national Special Teams Player of the Week after his school-record four field goal performance in a win over Yale.
Plummer joined the Big Red staff after serving as an assistant coach at Kutztown University. He was the team[apos]s linebacker coach and special teams coordinator for two seasons, and he also served as the running backs coach at Kutztown from 1994-95.
In June 1996, he moved on to James Madison for one season and then to Hampton through 1998, serving as running backs coach at both schools. During the 1997 and 1998 seasons at Hampton, his running backs led the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.
After his stint at Hampton, Plummer went on to Michigan State, where he served as a graduate assistant coach from 1999-2001 while pursuing a master[apos]s degree in athletic administration. Before returning to Kutztown, Plummer coached linebackers and special teams at Wayne State in Michigan. Plummer has also served NFL fellowships with the San Francisco 49ers (2003) and the Cleveland Browns (1992)
Plummer graduated in 1993 from Washington State University with a bachelor[apos]s degree in sociology. He was a four-year letter winner and starting linebacker for the Cougars. A California native, he was inducted into the St. Mary[apos]s High School (Berkeley, Calif.) Athletic Hall of Fame in 2002.
