High school football players’ hobbies away from football

MADISON – High school football players are well-focused, dedicated and enthusiastic student-athletes who concentrate on each of their on-field performances in attempts to play their best to give their team the much needed support. For many, football is their life, their passion and their way of life with very few distractions to take away their mental toughness for the sport their have engrained into their lives.

For those players who somehow find time to pursue a hobby, job or other ventures, it’s a joy to partake in something that gives them a break from the gridiron gatherings.

Myles Yarbrough of James Clemens is a good example of a high school student-athlete who makes good use of his time away from his play as a defensive back for the Jets. The senior concentrates on his work in the classroom as his hobby as he is pursuing an academic scholarship at a good college where he hopes to study history and political science with a dream job of becoming a lawyer. He carries a 4.5 grade point average and has his thought process geared to possibly attending an Ivey League school. It’s a hobby, and also a dream.

Jaden Rice of Bob Jones spent a good part of his summer vacation working at Starbucks at Bridgestreet. He earned money and took advantage of his work by having face-toface interaction with customers.

“I worked at Starbucks and did just about everything as I take the orders from customers and make the drinks and I enjoyed the work,” said Rice, star running back for the Patriots.

“I watch movies some and watch Tik-Tok when I have time, but mostly just play the game of football.” That’s how James Clemens senior and Vanderbilt commit M.J. Gideon spends his time away from football, which has helped him earn a scholarship offer to the SEC school located in Nashville.

Isaac Jeffrey, senior linebacker at Sparkman, hopes to study computer science in college, but into his last season as a high school athlete, the 5-foot-10, 210-pound linebacker has set a goal to record 100 tackles on the season and have the Senators run deep into the Class 6A post-season playoffs. He prepped for his final year of high school football by doing Crossfit training nearly every day. He, too, has activities away from the football field.

“I play basketball sometimes, as I played for the school before I started football my freshman year,” said Jeffrey. “I play video games of course and I drive a Tesla car, as well as my dad has one, too. I focus on football the most.”

Leading by example is one of the goals of Jase Gaines, a linebacker for Madison Academy, who’s in his third consecutive season as a starter for the Mustangs. He added, “I watch a lot of film of myself and opponents, both. I do play video games, especially my favorite ‘Call of Duty,’ and I go swimming from time to time.”

Slate Glover, two-way starter for Madison Academy on the offensive and defensive lines, relaxes when he can get away from football by playing basketball, golf and video games. He said of his hobbies, “My golf game is not good, but I go out and have a good time with the fun sport.”

Glover’s summer was more than just a hobby. He earned good money while offering a good day’s work for the father of one of his friends. He added, “We packaged Black Hawk parts and put them on cargo planes for shipment. I also worked for my dad on construction sites. Not the hammer and nails type work, but I cleaned up construction sites. I don’t work on the houses. I just clean up the messes.”