Being considered one of the most improved players on a team that made it all the way to the state championship game last year is quite an honor. But offensive lineman Tra’shawn Bacon has put in the time and effort to be a serious player for the Glynn Academy Red Terrors.
“My favorite part of the game of football is going out on the field and getting a chance to compete against other players and get some pancakes,” the starting left guard said.
A “pancake,” in this case, is the act of putting a defender on his back while blocking him. Pancakes are an offensive lineman’s business, and for Bacon business has been good this year. The Red Terrors had lost only one game the entire regular season and were ranked in the state’s Top 10 most of the year.
The 6-foot, 289-pound, baby-faced senior starter on the O-line for coach Rocky Hidalgo protects the back of quarterback Deejay Dallas and opens holes for running back Kendall Cross.
“Tra’shawn has become an integral part of our team,” Hidalgo said. “He is a total program kid. Through hard work and dedication, he has made himself into a really good high school football player.”
Whether he is pulling on a run play, taking out a linebacker, or dropping back in pass protection, Bacon is always on the move.
It has been an amazing past two years for Bacon and the Red Terrors. Following their four-point loss to Allatoona in the state championship last year, they entered this season facing a tough road schedule that included state AA No. 1 ranked Benedictine and AAAAA ranked Ware County. Hurricane Matthew caused a rescheduling of several games including a Tuesday night affair with Effingham County for the Region title. Glynn also played an interstate game against Colorado’s state runner-up, Pomona High School.
“We played them at the Disney ESPN Center in Orlando, Florida,” Bacon said. “It was a great experience, and then the next day we went to Universal Studios.”
Also known as “Tra,” and sometimes the “Baconator,” he is the son of Marquita Smith and Travis Bacon and has a little brother who is an up and comer for the Glynn Middle School Hurricanes this season. Tra’shawn hopes to play on the collegiate level one day and possibly play in the NFL.
“If that doesn’t work out, I would like to become an engineer,” Bacon said.
While he is not being actively recruited yet, his coaches see him becoming an outstanding player on the smaller college level.
Bacon started playing football in the recreation leagues as a young man and continued playing in middle school.
“I broke my wrist at the end of my seventh-grade year, and that prevented me from playing some of my eighth-grade year,” Bacon said. “I didn’t play offense until I reached high school.”
His athleticism was apparent at an early age when, during a middle school game, Bacon made a touchdown-saving tackle following a defensive fumble recovery. Once he got to Glynn Academy, however, he started to take football more seriously. But he soon realized that he was spending more and more time on the sidelines watching practice rather than getting in on plays.
“I wasn’t getting any reps at practice, but as the years went by, I started getting more and more reps and then became a starter,” Bacon said.
To get there, Bacon committed himself to the weight room. He also got it in his mind to be a team player and to go out and play hard all of the time.
“My coaches and teammates helped me the most by pushing me forward and not letting me quit,” Bacon said.
Each time he walks out onto the playing field, he focuses on the play at hand and makes sure he does the right steps and executes.
He enjoyed traveling to Orlando to play and has even taken a cruise to the Bahamas, but his ultimate trip would be another visit to the Georgia Dome for a second shot at the state title. Hidalgo has watched Bacon improve over the past three seasons and has been impressed with his abilities.
“He is a kid who really bought into what we were trying to do at Glynn Academy and invested in our program, and the results are evident,” Hidalgo said.
SE-MI-1216-Bacon
MI – Tra’shawn Bacon
Glynn Academy
Written by: Rob Asbell
Photos by: Michael Brinson
Hungry for Pancakes
