Plumlee grew up in Hattiesburg, Mississippi and attended Oak Grove High School, where he played baseball and football. He became the Warriors starting quarterback as a sophomore. As a junior, he passed for 1,759 yards, 14 touchdowns and nine interceptions and rushed for 599 yards and eight touchdowns in nine games and was named to the "Dandy Dozen" by The Clarion-Ledger. In baseball, he batted.442 with 35 RBIs and 38 runs scored in 27 games. Rated a four star recruit, Plumlee initially committed to play college football at Georgia during the summer going into his senior year over offers from Auburn, Alabama, Notre Dame, North Carolina, Nebraska, Southern Miss, Tulane, Troy, South Alabama and Mississippi State. As a senior, Plumlee complete 187-of-291 passes for 2,834 yards with 33 touchdown passes and three interceptions while also rushing for 1,444 yards and 19 touchdowns on 162 carries and led the team to a Southern State championship before losing to Horn Lake High School. He finished his high school career with 5,430 passing yards, 2,314 rushing yards and 82 total touchdowns in three seasons. After the season, Plumlee de-committed from Georgia shortly before National Signing Day in order to accept as scholarship to play both football and baseball at Ole Miss. Plumlee batted.411 with 39 hits, 45 runs scored, seven doubles, five triples, two home runs and 24 RBI in 29 games and was named 2019 5A/6A All-State in his final baseball season at Oak Grove.
College career
Plumlee began his true freshman season as the Rebels' backup quarterback. He made his collegiate debut against California after an injury to starter Matt Corral, completing all seven of his passes for 82 yards and rushing three times for 53 yards as he led the team to a near-comeback win before being stopped at California's one-yard line as time expired. Plumlee made his first career start the following week on September 28, 2019 against Alabama, completing 35.7 percent of his passes for 141 yards with two touchdowns and one interception and also rushing 109 yards and one touchdown in a 59–31 loss. He was named the Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Week after rushing for 165 yards and a touchdown with 99 passing yards against Vanderbilt on October 5. On November 10th against New Mexico State, Plumlee broke the freshman rushing yards and rushing touchdown record with 177 yards on the ground and two touchdowns. Plumlee finished the season with 910 yards, four touchdowns and three interceptions on 79-for-150 passing while rushing 154 times for 1,023 yards and 12 touchdowns. He set Ole Miss records for rushing yards, rushing touchdowns and total touchdowns by a freshman and the most rushing yards in a season by a quarterback. Plumlee began his freshman baseball season as the Rebels' starting centerfielder, while playing in the same outfield as football teammate Jerrion Ealy.
Statistics
John Rhys Plumlee is the fastest person in Mississippi.
