Coffee High School Football Player Zean Preston Voted ITG Next’s December 2024 Georgia Male Athlete of the Month
Coffee High School football player Zean Preston is ITG Next’s December 2024 Georgia Male Athlete of the Month.
Preston, a senior, has been a member of the Coffee football team his entire high school career, including in 2023 when the Trojans won the state championship. He is also a part of Coffee’s competitive weightlifting team.
Robert Preston, Zean Preston’s father, said his son grew up playing recreation flag and tackle football as a child, but wasn’t sure which position he wanted to play once he reached middle school.
“Zean absolutely loved playing football, so much that he was truly a Swiss-army-knife kind of player, meaning he could play anywhere on the field wherever he was needed,” Robert Preston said.
A former middle school coach decided to put Zean Preston at receiver, and he caught his first touchdown as a sixth-grader.
That ability to play anywhere came in handy as he entered high school.
“Even though Zean had played mostly offense in middle school, the high school coaches began playing him on defense as an edge (and) outside linebacker, and he did well there too,” Robert Preston said.
In Zean Preston’s sophomore, junior, and senior seasons, he was playing on offense, defense, and special teams.
“Zean has a very good football IQ, as well as good speed and good hands,” his father said.
Coffee head football coach Mike Coe said: “Zean is the epitome of what I want our program to be about and stand for. He’s a great student, a weight room junkie, is willing to play banged up, and is unselfish, which makes him a great teammate. He was a major on our special team units and was a huge reason our running game got going at the end of the season. I would take a team full of Zean Preston’s 100% of the time.”
Speaking of being a weight room junkie, Zean Preston began devoting time to weightlifting in the sixth grade along with football, and that has been as much a love of his as being on the gridiron. He has qualified for nationals as part of the USA-sanctioned olympic weightlifting competitions.
“Zean has been a Top 5 nationally ranked weightlifter,” Robert Preston said. “We have been all over the country with him to national weightlifting events.”
Zean Preston has 26 tackles over the last three seasons on defense and special teams. He’s also contributed offensively with two rushing touchdowns in 2023 and two receiving touchdowns in 2024.
In addition to his abilities on the football field and in the weightroom, he is also devoted to his academics and has maintained a 4.0 GPA.
