Lots of emotions flood in
Amid bowl preparation, Kentucky linebacker’s thoughts with hometown
Cody Goatley lay awake 270 miles away in Lexington as a historic tornado destroyed downtown Mayfield, Ky.
His parents, Jason and Christina, had decided to sleep in their basement because of the forthcoming storm, but the University of Kentucky linebacker hadn’t heard from them in a few hours. Repeated phone calls and texts weren’t going through.
It turned out that the path of the tornado — an EF4 storm that reached maximum wind speeds of 190 miles per hour, according to the National Weather Service — missed his parents’ home by about 2 miles. It was about 2:30 a.m., Eastern, before he was finally able to get back in touch.
“From the time that it started raining there and I’d seen that there was a tornado to the time that it had passed and I got a phone call back from ’em, I was sitting in my bed just nervous, man,” Goatley said. “It’s crazy.”
Exhausted, but with some peace of mind, Goatley finally got some muchneeded sleep. He had practice in the morning.
Walking on
Most people outside of Graves County probably associate Mayfield with one thing — high school football.
The namesake independent school, Mayfield High School, has won 12 state championships and played in 25 state finals. It is one of just seven schools in KHSAA history to have won at least 10 football titles and is the only one west of Louisville to have accomplished the feat.
Graves County High School, for which Goatley was a first-team all-state selection in 2019, is the larger of Mayfield’s two public high schools. It isn’t a regular in the state finals — the Eagles’ only appearance came in 2014 — but it holds its own athletically, particularly on the basketball court, where it has claimed 13 1st Region championships between its boys and girls programs.
Jason, his father, was a hoops star for the Eagles before a postsecondary career at Freed-Hardeman, where he met Christina, a fellow collegiate basketball player and current teacher at Graves County. Cody’s uncle, Jody, was a gridiron star who played for Purdue. Those ties are what brought Goatley — a 6-foot-2, 218pound linebacker who just as easily could’ve starred for the rival Cardinals — to the county school. He ended his career as Graves County’s all-time leader in tackles with 386.
Goatley, a member of the 2020 recruiting class, had a couple of scholarship opportunities by the end of his recruitment, and the Air Force academy also was a legitimate option, but he opted to attend Kentucky as a preferred walk-on. The familial vibe he got during his visits perhaps never manifested itself more than on the day after the tornado struck his hometown; he was overwhelmed by the amount of coaches and teammates who approached him to ask questions and offer aid two Saturdays ago.
Goatley similarly was amazed by the amount of money — more than $4 million — that the university was able to raise during a telethon held a few days after the disaster and by the number of people who poured into town to lend a hand on the ground.
“My parents said that it is so hard to move around in town because of how many people are actually there helping,” Goatley said. “They said that there’s been traffic backed up for miles.”
His immediate family was spared, but some cousins lost their home along with a camper and RV business, Arrowhead Camper Sales, they operate in town.
“It looked like you took a box of dominoes and threw ’em all out over the floor,” Cody said of his dad’s description.
Cody’s family, like many in Mayfield and other cities affected by the tornado, has spent the last couple of weeks helping clear damaged areas and delivering donated goods to people in need. Goatley has felt some guilt that he isn’t there assisting with the recovery efforts; he’s spent the last two weeks preparing for end-ofsemester exams and the Wildcats’ forthcoming trip to the Citrus Bowl.
“I know there’s people that have lost everything, and it’s eating at me,” Goatley said. “I wanted to help, him and my mom, they’ve said that they wanted me to stay here and finish finals and keep getting after football.
“They said whenever I get home, there will still be plenty of stuff for me to be able to do.”
Seizing his opportunity
Goatley has been a valuable practice squad addition at a position that’s been lean at times over the last two years because of a variety of unforeseen circumstances.
“When he gets his opportunities to compete, he has always shown up,” linebackers coach and co-defensive coordinator Jon Sumrall said. “You see No. 48 flying around every time. It’s crazy, but last spring scrimmage, we were thin at inside linebacker because (D’Eryk Jackson) went down, and we threw Cody out there with the twos, and he hadn’t gotten that many reps all spring. He was out there with the twos, and the dude just ran around making play after play after play after play.”
The former Graves County star was put on Sumrall’s radar by Trey Barclay, a former Mayfield quarterback with whom Sumrall roomed while both were playing for Kentucky in the early 2000s. Getting players of his caliber into the walk-on program is crucial to the development of the players with which most fans are more familiar and builds depth further down the roster.
Sumrall has an eye for talent; he was regarded as one of Kentucky’s top recruiters before being hired as the head coach at Troy this month. He described Goatley as a “perfect” walk-on candidate.
“He’s not just a guy that’s out there going through the motions in practice,” Sumrall said. “He’s actually a guy that has changed his body, and he’s grown and developed his technique. He’s got, I think, a real chance as time goes on to affect this football team more than just getting better in practice, but by getting on the game field.”
Athletics will try to offer respite as Mayfield rebuilds. Goatley expects the two high schools will formally memorialize people who lost their lives in many ways leading up to and during their next football game, which typically is played in September. The sports rivalry next will be renewed on the hardwood; the boys’ and girls’ basketball teams face off Jan. 7 at Graves County.
“Both schools are really classy,” he said.
Goatley over the holiday weekend will get his first inperson glimpses of the damage. The pharmacy where his family used to pick up prescriptions and a church they used to attend are among the structures razed; he’s looked a lot of photos and watched a lot of videos, but standing in front of where those buildings once stood will feel different.
He’ll embrace those emotions, and help as much as he can before disembarking for Orlando, Fla., with the Wildcats next week.
“I think having intestinal fortitude and being strongwilled and dedicated and determined in the process of your own personal growth is a strength of his,” Sumrall said. “It’s going to help him become the best he can be.”
Those traits were forged in his hometown. If Goatley is representative of its people, Mayfield has a good shot at becoming the best it can be, again.