The gleaming of the “Friday night lights” is a lot brighter at Chris Gilman Stadium for Camden County senior defensive back Devonte Lavalais-White. Freshman, sophomore, and junior years just run together for some football players that hope to see playing time in their final campaign. However, that is not the case for players for the Camden County Wildcats. The team was honored as the “Team of the Decade” in the 2000’s by The Atlanta Journal Constitution for three state championships (2003, 2008, 2009).
Lavalais-White has been with the Camden County football since his freshman year, and it was football that actually made him understand that he needed to grow up.
“Coach (Welton) Coffey would get on to me and keep me straight,” White says. “I was getting in trouble a lot in class and getting written up but playing football made me grow and be more mature on and off the field.”
Reality hits you between the eyes pretty hard in Region 1-AAAAAA and shows you first hand that if you do not have the athletic talent and size, it’s pretty hard to get onto the field. Every school in the region does not have a large drop-off of talent between the second and third player on the depth chart and their starters. Regardless, you’d better have speed, size, and technique- and not necessarily in that specific order.
White started to play football his freshman year as one of the 200 faces with the potential to play for the Camden County Wildcats. He knew that he didn’t have the size or ability to play as an underclassman, and he accepted the fact, but it certainly didn’t affect him from using each snap in practice and in sub-varsity games.
In a program with the size and breadth of Camden, players must create initiative and seize every moment they have. Similar to the preparation of colleges during a game week, Camden must field a scout team that can do their best to replicate a Colquitt offense (minus some of the speed and size, but it has to be as close as possible). For players trying to make an impression or carve out a possibility of varsity snaps under the “Friday night lights”, seeing Sean Astin bleeding on the practice field as “Rudy” comes to mind; but the whole story of “Rudy” was based off of a final minute to be able to be part of the college roster.
The scout team at Camden is day-in and day-out, and everyday, whether coaches are saying it out loud or not, players are auditioning for a chance to play on Friday night. One week, you have to be an all-world defensive back from Colquitt; and probably even more important than Friday night, scout team players have to take the best licks the varsity can give and return them at the same time without causing injury. Scout team players battle the question about being hurt or injured within their soul constantly, but just like on Friday night, they always try to answer “hurt” in their mind because you can play hurt.
“Every snap, every play, you’d better be giving everything you have on the scout team,” he says. “When you are doing that, the coaches see what you are doing, and the more they notice, they start to get more vocal; and then you realize that you’d better be ready because you have no idea when you are going to be asked to sub in for a starter.”
Not only has White helped his team get better by providing a good opponent as a member of the scout team, it also gives him a chance to hone his craft and technique.
Playing in the secondary at Camden certainly has produced a number of great players, such as Georgia Tech’s J.J. Green and Class of 2015 cornerback currently playing at Carson-Newman, Antonio Wimbush.
“(White) is not the fastest, not the most athletic, and not the biggest player in the secondary,” says defensive back coach Sumner Ellis. “However, none of that matters, and it doesn’t stop him from playing as hard as he can. One of the most important things that he has developed over the years is great technique. He also has a very strong work ethic, and those are things that he certainly brings to the table.”
Ellis has been very impressed with the hard work Devonte has brought daily, whether it be on the scout team or working in the varsity rotation of the secondary. Devonte certainly reciprocates the faith his coach has in him.
“Coach Ellis pushes us hard and it makes us better,” White says. “We are always trying to get great technique working and get ready to play on Friday night. You never know when the moment comes that you need go into a game and be able to cover a receiver or make a tackle, so we are always ready to play. The secondary is truly the last line of defense, so we have to make the play or bad things can happen.”
Last season, when the Wildcats went 5-5, White and the other seniors took it upon themselves to make sure that wouldn’t happen again. Working harder in the weight room and maximizing every rep on the practice field, the Wildcats are 8-0 going into the final weeks of the regular season.
“This is a family,” he says. “I consider each person on this team a brother, and we knew we had to fix last season. We have, but we want to go as far as we can just taking it one game at a time.”
When White graduates high school, he knows this could be the last time he puts on pads, although there could possibilities to play at the next level.
“I am going to major in hotel management in college,” he says. “I would like to play at the next level if I can, and if I don’t get an opportunity to, I know that I got the most out of my high school career. It certainly has impacted me as a person, on and off the field.”
Sometimes football gets wrapped in the number of stars a kid has behind their name or a 40 (yard dash) time, but the reality of high school football is the lessons that can certainly influence and change the quality of life for the players. The hard work that Devonte has put in during his time at Camden to see the field as a senior is the epitome of the positive power of high school football and the influence of great coaches.
SE-MI-11.15-DevonteLavalais-White
Hard work and persistence pays off
By John Wood
