MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- Zach Stewart added another trophy to his collection earlier this week.
The big Coalfield High School offensive lineman, a longtime University of Tennessee commitment, hopes to get his hands on another today in Cookeville.
Stewart, who repeated as a Mr. Football award winner Monday, and the Yellow Jackets play Union City in the Class 1A state championship game on the campus of Tennessee Tech.
"It means a whole heck of a lot," Stewart said Monday before he was named Mr. Football for a second time. "We weren't supposed to be here. After the first game of the year, we struggled to get a win, and a lot of people thought we were going to win five ballgames and not really make it very far in the playoffs.
"To be in the state championship for the first time in Morgan County history, let alone our school's history, is just unbelievable, and it's a great feeling."
The 6-foot-4, 305-pound Stewart, who's rated as a four-star prospect by Rivals.com, committed to the Volunteers nearly two years ago in April 2013, so he's been one of the foundational pieces to Tennessee's 2015 haul.
Stewart, who grew up in Coalfield, said he'd get a bunch of handwritten letters from other programs asking him to come to games even after he committed, but those stopped coming when he never responded, his college decision already set.
"You always had a special place in your heart for the Vols," he said, "and when the offer came, it was such a surreal feeling, and I'm very blessed to have this opportunity."
In the smallest classification in Tennessee, Stewart, who's been a varsity starter since he was in the eighth grade, didn't allow a sack and piled up 77 tackles, 21 for loss and 11 sacks in the regular season this fall. The Yellow Jackets were just 6-4 before beating Harriman, Cloudland, Greenback and Monterey to reach today's title game.
Coalfield Yellow Jackets lineman Zach Stewart (55) looks for a block at Coalfield High School's Rochelle Field.Coalfield's roster has around 30 players, and Stewart, one of just four seniors on the team, joked that the game would "empty the county" as most residents of one of the state's smallest counties make the short drive to Cookeville.
"Somebody said, 'The last person to leave Coalfield, make you sure turn the lights off,'" he added.
Stewart will go from small-town high school to one of the biggest programs in college football when he enrolls about six months from now, and he firmly believes he's joining a Tennessee program on the rise under coach Butch Jones.
"It's obviously going in the right direction," Stewart said. "Great improvement from last year. Making it to a bowl game, that's huge, just to get those extra practices in. The job the coaching staff's done has been great, and the job the guys up there have done as players has been great.
"You see the leadership oozing out of the players from Coach Jones on down through the players and the staff."
Tennessee offensive line coach Don Mahoney was in attendance Monday to see Stewart, who wore an orange-and-white checkered tie, and fellow Tennessee commitment Jack Jones, out of Oakland High School in Murfreesboro, both repeat as Mr. Football winners.
"First of all, he's done a great coaching (job) this year," Stewart said of Mahoney. "From where that line started with at the beginning of the year to where it is now, it's a testament to not only him but those guys in that meeting room with him. Those other offensive linemen, you know they've worked hard.
"It's a bunch of guys I respect greatly. As far as (Mahoney) goes, I have a great relationship with him, love talking to him and love his coaching style and the way he looks at football. I look forward to playing for him the next four or five years."
Stewart also is looking forward to playing with the rest of Tennessee's 2015 class, a group he's watched grow the past 20 months.
"I think we're really tight, because the base of the class has been committed for a long time: me, Jack, (Andrew) Butcher, Dylan Jackson. A lot of us have been it for a long time together, then you get guys like Kahlil (McKenzie), who are just as much strong commits as us that have been here for two years. We're all pretty tight and we all keep in touch.
"It's a good bunch of guys, and I look forward to playing with them."
There's some other business to handle first.
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.