The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Columbia coach praises toughness of Ram's Everett
Starting tight end transferred to school to play basketball.
It has been seven years since Gerald Everett was a senior at Columbia High School, and if the basketball team hadn’t been so good, Everett might not be what he is today — a starting tight end for the Los Angeles Rams and scheduled to play Sunday in the Super Bowl at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
In 2011, Everett transferred to Columbia from M.L. King, where he had played basketball the previous three seasons. He showed up for Columbia’s all-sports workouts that summer proclaiming himself to be a top basketball player.
“Columbia had a national basketball program at that time, so they had plenty of kids,” said Mario Allen, Columbia’s football coach then. “So the (basketball) coaches were saying, ‘That kid won’t be used that much. You want him for football?’”
Heck yeah, Allen thought. Everett, at 6 feet 4 and 200 pounds, was fast and strong, with good hands and a work ethic. But he hadn’t played football in three years. Everett caught 13 passes for 224 yards in a run-based offense and got some all-region recognition. Then he went through five colleges — finally starring at South Alabama — before the Rams took him in the sec- ond round in 2017.
Allen, who led Banneker to its first region title last season, said opportunity and perseverance paid off for his former player.
“Physically, he already looked impressive, but the real difference was that he was mentally tougher than other kids,’’ Allen said. “Other kids would’ve folded. He didn’t want to go to junior college. He had a hamstring issue. He could’ve easily given up. I think he was just mentally tougher to get past those obstacles in his life.”
Super Bowl spotlight finds Marist coach: Marist football coach Alan Chadwick has two state titles and 375 wins, second-most in Georgia history, but he has never done so many inter- views during a two-week span as he has done leading to the Super Bowl. It’s hap- pening because the Rams’ Sean McVay, the young- est coach in Super Bowl history at age 33, was the star quarterback on Chadwick’s 2003 Marist team and led it to the Class AAAA championship. The Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Daily News, NBC, CBS, WSB-TV, WXIA-TV, Fox 5, The Athletic and the Rams’ public-relations crew have interviewed Chadwick.
“It has been a very hectic couple of weeks,’’ Marist sports information director Jerry Novac said. “Several of the press had called to set up times to talk; others just showed up unan- nounced, but coach Chadwick has taken the time to talk to each and every one. In addition, we had many of our assistant coaches also come in to talk about their experiences and recollec- tions of Sean’s playing days and about Sean’s character and personality.”
Buford basketball coaches get 800th victories: Buford girls basketball coach Gene Durden got his 800th victory Wednes- day night — just eight days after Buford boys basketball Eddie Martin did the same. Buford is believed to be the first Georgia high school to have two 800-game winners. Durden’s girls team defeated Loganville 48-30, improving Durden’s career record to 800-214 (.789). Durden’s record at Buford is 367-70 with state titles in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2017 and 2018. Martin’s boys team defeated Johnson of Gainesville 75-18 on Jan. 22. That made Martin’s record 800248 (.764) overall and 87-21 at Buford. Martin has won state titles at Buford (2017), Greater Atlanta Christian (2010, 2011, 2013, 2014) and Norcross (2006, 2007, 2008).