The name August Drews shows up in a few different places — genealogy databases, old immigration records, and college football rosters. The most relevant person carrying that name today is a former tight end who played for Appalachian State University, better known as App State.
What makes his story worth reading isn’t just his own athletic career. It’s the family behind him — four generations deep in professional sports, stretching all the way back to Major League Baseball. This article covers who August Drews is, what he accomplished on the field, his family’s remarkable sports history, and why some name searches return completely different people with no connection to him.
Who Is August Drews?
August Drews is a former American football tight end from Sarasota, Florida. He attended Sarasota High School before signing with App State, where he played college football as a member of the Mountaineers.
He is not a professional NFL player. Based on publicly available information, his football career is documented at the college level only. There is no confirmed record of him playing professionally after his time at App State.
It’s also worth noting early on that genealogy records contain at least two unrelated men named August Drews from the 19th century. One was born in Prussia in 1844 and later settled in Buffalo, New York. Another was a Wisconsin blacksmith born in 1868. Neither of these individuals has any connection to the App State athlete.
His Career at Sarasota High School
At Sarasota High School, Drews played tight end and also served as a long snapper. His 2019 season showed clear potential at the next level.
That year, he caught 15 passes, averaged 14.3 yards per reception, and scored four touchdowns. Those are solid numbers for a high school tight end, and they helped draw college attention.
His long-snapping ability made him even more valuable. Kohl’s Football, a well-known evaluator of long snappers, ranked him No. 18 nationally at that position in the 2020 recruiting class. When App State signed him, 247Sports listed him as a two-star recruit — a modest rating, but the Mountaineers saw something worth developing.
August Drews at Appalachian State
Drews joined App State as part of their 2020 signing class. He played tight end for the Mountaineers and appeared in 19 games over four seasons at the college level.
One of the highlights of his college tenure came during the 2023 season. That App State team won nine games, claimed the Sun Belt East Division title, and took home a Cure Bowl victory. Being part of a division-winning team is a meaningful achievement, even for players whose individual statistics don’t stand out.
There’s also a family connection that makes his time at App State a bit more personal. His uncle, Jeff Vollmer, also played tight end for the Mountaineers. So when Drews suited up for App State, he was following a path that a family member had already walked.
No public record confirms that Drews went on to play football professionally after college.
Four Generations of Sports — The Drews Family Tree
The individual career of August Drews tells one story. His family tells a much bigger one.
The Drews family spans four generations of competitive athletics, with three of those generations reaching professional baseball. It’s a rare kind of sports lineage that doesn’t get a lot of attention simply because August himself chose football over the family’s traditional path.
Great-Grandfather: Karl Drews
At the top of the family tree is Karl Drews, August’s great-grandfather. Karl was a Major League Baseball pitcher — a genuine professional who competed at the highest level of the sport.
Having one MLB player in a family tree is impressive on its own. The Drews family didn’t stop there.
Grandfather: Ron Drews
August’s grandfather, Ron Drews, carried on the athletic tradition. Ron played baseball and built enough of a legacy at Old Dominion University to earn a place in the school’s Hall of Fame.
He was also drafted by the New York Mets at one point in his career. Making it into a professional draft is an achievement that only a small percentage of college players ever reach.
Father: Matt Drews
Then came Matt Drews, August’s father. Matt didn’t just get drafted — he was selected in the first round by the New York Yankees in 1993. That’s a significant moment. First-round picks represent the best prospects in the country in any given year.
Matt’s career is his own story, separate from his son’s accomplishments. But his pedigree clearly shows that August grew up surrounded by a deep understanding of high-level athletic competition.
August Drews: The Football Generation
August represents the fourth generation — and the one who stepped away from baseball entirely. Rather than following the family’s path to the diamond, he chose the football field. He played tight end, a position that rewards athleticism, size, and route-running ability.
His uncle, Jeff Vollmer, adds a fifth relevant sports figure to the mix. Vollmer also played tight end at App State, which makes August’s choice of school feel less like coincidence and more like a natural extension of the family’s broader athletic culture.
Together, this family tree runs from MLB mounds to college football fields across multiple decades. That’s not something you see every day.
Why Multiple People Share the Name August Drews?
If you’ve searched for August Drews online and landed on something unexpected — a 19th-century immigrant or an old Wisconsin census record — you’re not alone. The name appears in historical records that have nothing to do with the football player.
One historical August Drews was born in Prussia in January 1844. He immigrated to the United States in 1881 with his wife and children and eventually settled in Buffalo, New York. Another was a blacksmith born in Wisconsin on November 17, 1868, who married a woman named Elizabeth Radder and ran blacksmith shops in that state.
These are real historical individuals, but they share only a name with the App State athlete. Birth years and locations make the differences immediately clear.
This kind of name overlap is common in genealogy research. Databases can surface multiple records for the same name without confirming any connection between them. To accurately identify a person in historical records, you need to compare several details at once — birthplace, family members, occupation, and dates. A shared name alone doesn’t establish a link.
If you’re researching family history and found an August Drews record, double-check those details before assuming you’ve found the right person.
What the Public Record Tells Us?
The confirmed public information about August Drews the football player is mostly athletic in nature. His App State roster biography and the 2020 signing class announcement are the primary sources for his background, statistics, and family connections.
Details about his personal life, education outside of football, current employment, or post-college activities aren’t available in reliable public sources. That’s worth noting for anyone who wants to go beyond the sports record.
For broader sports and career stories like this one, Upward Business Daily covers profiles that connect athletic backgrounds to the wider world of ambition and achievement.
What is clear is that August Drews came from an extraordinary athletic family, performed well enough at the high school level to earn a Division I scholarship, played in 19 college games, and was part of a Sun Belt championship team in 2023. That’s a solid record on its own.
Final Thoughts
August Drews may not be a household name, but he belongs to a family that has quietly produced elite athletes for nearly a century. From a great-grandfather who pitched in the majors to a father who was a first-round Yankees pick, the Drews family has a sports history that most families could only dream of.
August chose a different sport, but he stayed competitive at the college level and was part of a winning program at App State. His uncle’s connection to the same school adds one more layer to a story that’s more about family legacy than individual stardom.
If you searched his name and weren’t sure which August Drews you were looking at, hopefully this clears things up. The football player from Sarasota and the 19th-century immigrants who share his name are entirely different people — connected by nothing more than the letters on a page.
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