Georgia Tech lost a defensive lineman but gained a recruiter. Denzel McCoy likely lost football forever, but retained his perspective.
Bright and determined, McCoy won’t permit a heart condition that has sent him to the sidelines to steal his ever-present smile.
“Just because I can’t play doesn’t mean I’m not on the team,” McCoy said. “It just means that it’s a setback for me.”
About 2 1/2 years ago, McCoy was one of the more pursued high school prospects in the country. Besides Tech, Auburn, Florida State, Notre Dame, Stanford and Tennessee were among the 30-plus schools who offered him scholarships. In April 2009, the spring of his junior year at Northview High, McCoy committed to Tech, impressed with the school’s academic offerings.
McCoy, who made money as a boy washing cars and holding garage sales, has “business savvy and computer savvy,” McCoy’s father, Gary, said, “so [Tech] is the best place for him.”
McCoy, an only child of teachers who grew up with a dry-erase board in his bathroom listing weekly academic and training goals, had met another one with a college football scholarship. He had grown up around sports. McCoy’s father and uncle played football at North Carolina A&T, and his father coached him at Northview. His grandfather was a golf pro, and even his grandmother played basketball.
However, when McCoy arrived on campus in the summer of 2010, an echocardiogram revealed that his heart was pumping about half as much blood per beat as it should. Further testing led to a diagnosis of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle. It appears that a viral infection that McCoy caught just weeks before he arrived at Tech caused the condition.
Cardiologist John Cantwell, who has screened Tech athletes for about 30 years and spoke with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution with the McCoys’ permission, said he thinks McCoy is the first athlete he has had to pull from competition because of a heart condition.
Last fall and spring, McCoy was mostly limited to moderate strength-and-conditioning exercise. He hoped that his condition would improve to the point that he would be cleared. Just before Tech opened preseason camp in early August, tests showed his heart hadn’t recovered enough.
“I was like, ‘Wow,’ but at the same time, I was like, ‘Hey, there’s a reason for this,’” McCoy said. “I’ll be all right.”
McCoy is on medication, and his heart pumps more efficiently. He’ll continue to be tested. Cantwell hopes for the best, but isn’t optimistic about a return to football.
“I wouldn’t say it’s zero, but it’s very low,” Cantwell said of McCoy’s chances.
McCoy and his family hope and pray for a miracle. In the meantime, McCoy is on a scholarship to aid player-personnel director Liam Klein in recruiting. Given that McCoy helped Tech coaches recruit future teammates after he had made his commitment, McCoy is a natural for the job.
“I love to talk to people,” McCoy said. “I can talk to a wall and be fine.”
Beyond football, McCoy wants to one day run his own information-technology company. He is a management major and also wants to study IT and finance. His 19-year-old brain has been popping with on-campus business ventures.
“When football’s not on your mind all the time, it’s amazing what you can do,” McCoy said.
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