Showcase a chance to keep dreams alive
Event offers combine-style audition opportunity for area football players
Demetrius McFarland has learned to value time as he’s watched his mother fight to keep from running out of it.
The same goes for a Willowridge teammate. Though it wasn’t a parent — it was Michael Jackson, who last summer stood by his back door, knife in hand and siblings hiding while a would-be burglar tried kicking his way into their home.
“It was going to be me or him,” Jackson said.
The break-in never happened. The door never opened, and police found the suspect.
Jackson isn’t toying around with the second — and third — chance he has.
That will be on display Saturday at this year’s Greater Houston Senior Football Showcase. Close to 500 football players will try to extend their playing careers by going through combine-style and football drills in front of NCAA Division II and III, and NAIA coaches at the Houston Sports Park.
Only graduating seniors who are academically qualified or already have been accepted to three attending colleges are allowed to participate.
Now in its ninth season, the showcase opens doors when the pomp and circumstance of national signing day goes away. Not every high school football player is a Division I-caliber recruit, but as event organizers and coaches say, there can be a place at the college level and available financial aid for those who seize the opportunities.
That’s why McFarland hasn’t really taken a break since Willowridge ended its football season in November.
He’s watched his mother’s health deteriorate since his grandmother died in 2012. ‘This is my life’
Keiara McFarland has suffered three strokes and two heart attacks, and she nearly didn’t make it through the pregnancy of her second son last year.
She may still need a heart transplant.
“This is my life now,” said McFarland, a wide receiver who has been accepted to both LSU and Southern University but still hopes to catch the attention of a few coaches Saturday. “My mother is always there for me. If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t be where I am.
“She’s the one who motivated me to try out for football in middle school, and she’s the one who motivated me to keep pushing through when I felt like I couldn’t take it. My mother is my backbone and for there to be this close of a chance for me to lose her, I can’t even imagine that.”
McFarland didn’t sign on signing day.
Jackson participated — agreeing to play at Division III Wisconsin Lutheran — but he’s holding on to an outside chance that there’s a school for him closer to home.
He attended three high schools, moving to Willowridge from La Marque during his junior year.
The move gave him another chance — Jackson’s older brother was an athlete but got caught up with the wrong crowd. Jackson was there too and wanted to stay but his mother didn’t sway.
It was rough. Jackson was nearly kicked off the team. But things did eventually change for the better. Setting an example
His attitude and behavior improved. He realized he has the chance to do something special in his family — be the first male to attend college.
“Now my brother and sisters see me as the example of what to do,” Jackson said. “I made it this far, so why would I do something else, drop out or don’t finish what my goal is? My senior year is almost over and I’m not looking back at what I could have done wrong.”
Jackson and McFarland are hoping to become the latest success stories to come from the showcase. They helped turn things around at Willowridge, which returned to the playoffs in the fall for the first time since 2009.
Now, it’s trying to extend their dream while keeping the bigger picture in mind.
“At first, I valued time, but now time is the most precious thing to me,” McFarland said. “You never know how much time you have left to enjoy a person or life period.”