Media Day in Calhoun County

Anniston, AL – Answers to why some don’t transfer, why NIL looms over Alabama high school sports, why colorful new helmets and why colorful nicknames.

By Joe Medley

Highlights from the sixth annual Calhoun County Quarterback Club football media day, Friday at Anniston Country Club.

Check, please

Who knows which of the 13 high school football teams in Calhoun County will finish as the season’s biggest winner in 2024, but Wellborn won the press conference.

Senior tight end Ethan Carroll, answering a moderator’s question about what it means to put on the black and white and play on Friday nights, vented his Panther soul.

His comments come at a time when players transferring schools has become part of doing business.

Long quote, worth it.

“It runs deep in my family,” he said. “Everyone from my dad’s oldest brother all the way up to my youngest nephew was playing ball at Wellborn, so Wellborn as a community and as a school itself means a lot to me, and it means a lot to my family.

“As far as football goes, my family is a family full of football players. To go out there and wear the number (22) that’s been worn on several backs of Carroll blood, to be able to go out there and play, knowing my dad, my uncle and my brother all played on the same field, it really means a lot to me, to be able to step out there and know that I’m a part of a legacy. I really appreciate the fact that we haven’t up and left. To a lot of people, it’s easy to leave. They get all of these big things. They get all of this talk in their ear, like, ‘I like the way that sounds, or I like what this team offers, or I like what this coach does.’ For me, Wellborn is about family, and it’s about loyalty, and it’s about wanting to be there and put in the work and wanting to be a part of something that makes a difference.”

Jeff Smith, entering his 16th season coaching his alma mater, blamed college greed for the looming prospect of NIL in Alabama high school sports.

Again, long quote. Worth it.

“I’ll say this about college football and NIL … they brought it on themselves,” said Smith, a former college player, at Jacksonville State. “Years ago, like, say, in the ‘50s and the ‘60s, the players would get laundry money. They would give them $20 a week, supposedly to take care of laundry or going out on a date, or something, OK? Well, they cut away the laundry money, and you’re on full scholarships, and that pays for your tuition, your books and a place to live, but then you have no other money, and you’re not able to work a job. When you sign on that scholarship, you’re working for that university. Call it like it is. You are working for that university, and Saturdays are big.

“If they would’ve kept doing the laundry money and paid the players … say, just a hundred dollars a week, that they could actually go out on a date or get a hamburger, I think we wouldn’t be in the place we are now. I think a lot of it was greed, and that’s where we’ve got to.”

Smith relayed a story a former colleague who coached Bo Jackson shared about calling Jackson after the famous “Bo Over The Top” Iron Bowl. Jackson was in his dorm room, not out celebrating Auburn’s victory over rival Alabama.

“He said, ‘Bo, why are you not out with everybody else?’” Smith recalled. “He (Jackson) said, ‘I really don’t got any money to do anything.’

“I’ve always kind of remembered that. Those players are out there making millions and millions of dollars (for the university) and everything, and they had no private life at all. I think, if they’d have done that, we wouldn’t have gotten to the place where we are in college football, and whatever happens in college football is going to come down to high school football, and now, we’ll have to deal with that.”

New helmets

The new “Oxford gold” helmet starred at media day in 2021. Pleasant Valley’s new white helmet was a topic last year and won an award.

This year, White Plains showed up with a new matte gray helmet. Weaver brought a new white helmet, and Anniston has an alternate chrome cardinal helmet with a “Dawgs” emblem.

Each new helmet has a story. Second-year White Plains coach Blake Jennings, who put new emblems on the old white helmet last year,  wanted something to match this year’s new jerseys, which have gray stripes.

“We knew we had to get new blue and white jerseys, and I wanted to do something a little bit different with the helmet, also,” Jennings said. “You start looking around on the computer everywhere and trying to find different things. We just wanted to change the color up a little bit and came up with the matte gray.”

Weaver coach Kenneth Cofer expressed a preference for black helmets, like the one Weaver wore for years. He said Weaver will be the first white-helmet team of his coaching career.

“I’ll be honest, I really like the black helmet, as well,” he said. “If we can ever build this thing up the way we want to, we’re going to have both.”

Wide receiver Keshawn Allen shared the most enthusiasm for the white helmet.

“I love the helmet,” he said. “I’ve never worn a white helmet, and I just think it looks good.”

As for Anniston’s cardinal alternate helmet, second-year Bulldogs coach Rico Jackson sees it as a  city-connect concept.

“I guess you can call it chrome red,” he said.. “It just adds a little flavor. That’s pretty much it. We’ll wear it every now and then.

“I tried to make the decals like a blast from the past. Anniston wore the ‘Dawgs’ in script. I like what (Pleasant Valley) Coach (Jonathan) Nix said about bridging the community together, That kind of brings the old and the new.”

Nicknames

Friday’s player lineup included Alexandria senior defensive back/kicker Grayson “Cleat” Forrest, Wellborn senior center Trace “Dozer” Hayes and Donoho senior lineman Brayden “Beef” Johnson.

Like the new helmets, every nickname has a story.

Forrest said his dad gave him “Cleat” as a nickname way back in youth baseball. He’s known for the moniker, which seems to fit his kicker role.

As for Grayson?

“Not many people know that’s my real name, actually,” he said.

Johnson’s nickname also has ties to baseball … well, a baseball coach. It was the brainchild of Donoho baseball coach Steve Gendron, when Johnson was in sixth grade

“We were eating lunch, and I was grabbing a stool, or something,” Johnson said. “Donoho didn’t like me sitting on stools for some reason, and he said ‘Beef’ under his breath.

“All of my friends heard it, and they were like, ‘That’s your new nickname.’”

He said he likes the nickname in the right context, but maybe not at media day.

“I want colleges to know me as Brayden,” he said.

Hayes got is bullish nickname at age 4.

“When I was little, I used to not go around everything,” he said. “I always went through it, and then about when I turned 4, my uncle called me ‘Dozer,’ and then it just stuck.”

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