CALEDONIA — Kody White was all set to have a great summer.
As a rising senior, White was gearing up for his third season as a starter on the Caledonia High School football team. White had a little extra pep in his step because he knew the Confederates had plenty of experience coming back for the 2016 season, so optimism was high that the program could get back to the Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA) playoffs after a one-year absence.
Then everything came crashing down.
When White went in for what he thought was going to be a routine physical to get cleared to play football, the doctors asked him to get an MRI, or Magnetic Resonance Imaging, a technique used in radiology to image the anatomy and the physiological processes of the body in health and disease, because he had three concussions in the past. Doctors then examined blood drawn from White and determined he had a tumor.
“It brought my down my whole summer,” White said. “I just about quit training.”
Kody’s father, Brian, who is an assistant football coach and the powerlifting coach at Caledonia High, said the family suffered through even bigger worries.
“We were thinking he was going to have to have brain surgery,” Brian White said. “Everything he thinks is going to happen has been flushed down the toilet.”
Anxious moments followed as the family attempted to make an appointment to get a second opinion. Kody finally secured a visit with a doctor in Memphis, Tennessee, who said he saw nothing in the blood test to indicate he had a tumor. The decision cleared White to resume practice for his final season as a Confederate.
“It really broke my heart when the doctors told me I would never play football again,” White said earlier this week. “Looking back, I wish I would have trained because I feel like I am nowhere close to where I should be.”
Brian White takes a different view and said this week that Kody has looked more like the player he and head coach Andy Crotwell envisioned playing a key role in the team’s success. All of the medical uncertainty will be put in the past at 7 tonight when Caledonia plays host to Shannon in the season opener for both teams.
“It is our last year, and with all of the experience we have there are no excuses to make critical errors at any point in the ballgame,” White said.
As one of 27 seniors, White said he senses the optimism surrounding the program. He said it was challenging to try to stay positive when he was going through all of the tests and visits to the doctors. He said he could still lift weights in an attempt to stay in shape, but he admitted he didn’t have his usual intensity.
White said he isn’t going to let any of what he went through drag him down because Caledonia wants to improve on its 5-5 finish last season and make inroads in the ultra-competitive Class 4A, Region 4. He said an attitude that was forged in the weight room helped the players “get a taste of blood in our mouth to really start working harder and harder every day.” He hopes that mind-set will drive the team to have one of its best seasons in recent memory.
“The history is not a very good history, which is why people don’t expect Caledonia to be very good,” White said. “The past few years, the way we have played and having above-Caledonia-average seasons has really helped us get support from the fans and the town. I think that is what keeps us going, the support of the fans in the town. Along with that, you just have to go 100 mph every play and give it all you have got. Most of the starters are seniors, and most of us, like most high school seniors, probably will never play again. That is why you always have to play like very play is your last.
“It has been building up. We have been working hard for two or three years. We have been working our butts off trying to get as strong and as fast as we can because we are in a very difficult division and we have to be able to play with other teams. The big thing is attitude and heart. That is what you have to have no matter how athletic you are. That is what we’re going to take into the season to win as many games as we can.”
Senior Daniel Longmire feels the optimism, too. As another one of the team leaders on defense, Longmire said experience has given the team a new sense of confidence. He said many of the current Confederates started out as “practice dummies” and have come a long way and are ready to lift Caledonia High football to new heights.
“A lot of people look at us and say we’re the class that is going to win. … It should be a good year for us,” Longmire said. “My sophomore year we had a pretty good team. A lot of us were young and we looked at it and imagined our senior year and how good we’re going to be. I think building up to our senior year we should be the best we have ever been because we are all seniors.”
Crotwell, who is in his fourth season as head coach, feels optimism applies to this season, although he doesn’t want the team to get caught up in what happened in the past and what could happen down the road. Instead, he always has preferred to take a measured approach that has pushed the Confederates to get better every snap and every practice. That mind-set has served the program well in the last few years and helped it become more competitive in a region that features two-time reigning Class 4A State champion Noxubee County and perennial power Kosciusko.
“I think you have to detach yourself from all of the expectations and from all of the community optimism,” Crotwell said. “I think you have to have a sense of resiliency. They all have played enough to know there is going to be adversity and you have to overcome it. I think they have all have played enough and, hopefully, have not forgotten that football is a beautiful game and nothing is given, nothing is granted. It is all earned through hard work and execution and a willingness to continue to fight regardless of the circumstance or situation.”
Brian White said Kody tried to do that through the summer as he and the family waited to get a final diagnosis. He said Kody’s ability to fight through a torn labrum in his shoulder at the end of last season epitomizes his love for the game and willingness to fight for his teammates. After surgery on the shoulder and rehabilitation helped get Kody back to where he was, the possibility of him never playing football again was a mental blow Brian said his son is overcoming. He said Kody regained confidence after playing against Pontotoc in a jamboree. He said Kody getting back on the field and testing his shoulder and feeling fine after hits helped him realize he could get back to playing the attacking, physical brand of football he has been known to play the last three years.
After months of uncertainty, Brian said Kody is looking forward to a great fall.
“He is healthy and glad he is back,” Brian said. “As his dad, I am really glad he is back. Prayers still get answered. They may not be as timely as you want them to be, but prayers still get answered if you have the right kind of faith in God.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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