The question from the Cartersville school board caught 30-year-old coach Joey King off-guard.
“Do you feel like you might be intimidated by a 6-4, 280-pound lineman?”
King, a former college quarterback who had spent the last six years as an assistant coach at Carrollton, paused.
“I wasn’t expecting the question,” he recalled. “I was thinking all these things, you know, I played college and football and coached big kids at Carrollton; I’m not easily intimidated, so I just said the first thing that came out.”
What came out was a quote from Denzel Washington in the football classic “Remember the Titans:” “I do not scratch my head unless it itches. I do not dance unless I hear some music. I will not be intimidated.”
Seven months later, King has lived up to Denzel’s words.In Kings's first season as a coach, Cartersville has left no doubt about this team’s abilities.
The Purple Hurricanes (8-1, 6-0) host Pickens (8-1, 5-1) on Friday with the winner claiming the top seed out of the region in the playoffs. Cartersville, led by a touted freshman quarterback and a bevy of playmakers, has outscored region opponents 48.3 to 7.
Freshman quarterback Trevor Lawrence is the next big thing to come out of Cartersville. Lawrence, a 6-4, 180-pound prostyle QB, won the starting job entering region play. He’s completed 64.5 percent of his passes for 1,894 yards with 18 touchdowns and three interceptions. According to 24/7sports.com, Lawrence is already on the recruiting radars of Georgia and Tennessee. But, for now, he’s still a freshman quarterback, preparing to lead the third-ranked Hurricanes into the playoffs.
“He’s not playing as a freshman,” King said of his quarterback. “You see him on film, and he’s probably playing at the level of a junior, to be honest with you. He’s very composed, and he’s got a lot of people around to support him on offense.”
Versatile receiver-tight end Miller Forristall has been one of several standouts on that supporting case. Forristall began the season splitting time with Lawrence at quarterback, but is now making an impact at multiple positions on offense.
“Miller’s a fierce competitor and a great athlete,” King said.
King also points to receivers Terrius Callahan, Tony Dean and Malik Mitchell and dual-threat running backs Kalin Heath and Tiamon Pennymon as playmakers that have made the Cartersville offense so explosive and balanced.
King was the architect of Carrollton’s run-heavy offensive attack last season, when the Trojans made a run to the AAAA state championship game. He says his offense at Cartersville is way more balanced than his offense at Carrollton.
“When I got here, we really took a lot of what Cartersville had been successful with in the past and built on that,” King said. “We’re more balanced offensively. We’re probably 50/50 run/pass, which is tough for defenses to prepare for, as opposed to at Carrollton, we were probably 70 percent run, 30 percent pass.”
