High school football notebook: Coleman getting taste of coaching at alma mater

photo Former UTC quarterback B.J. Coleman has returned to his high school alma mater to help coach at McCallie on a volunteer basis wile working a full-time job for a logistics company.

B.J. Coleman is still known as a quarterback, but he also has taken on the mantle of coach while working as a volunteer assistant for Ralph Potter at McCallie.

"Everything is going great. I'm glad I was able to volunteer although I'm not there as much as I'd like. I'm thankful that Coach Potter lets me help out on Friday evenings," the former Blue Tornado and University of Tennessee at Chattanooga star said.

Coleman is working as vice president of sales for Lipsey Logistics. He was in Seattle on Thursday morning visiting potential clients with the hope of getting to Nashville tonight in time for McCallie's game at Pope John Paul II.

That doesn't mean, though, that the 25-year-old has given up all thoughts of returning to the National Football League.

"The job I have now is a great opportunity," he said. "I'm still working out though I'm not in tip-top shape, because when you go to work it's 9-to-5. I'm sitting back and waiting to see what happens this year, and I'm sure there will be an opportunity here and there to work out for somebody. If the right opportunity comes along, I'd love it."

SBA's Rogers no turtle

Before the season, Silverdale Baptist Academy football coach Al Rogers was getting off a four-wheeler, slipped and injured his back.

The brace in which he was placed made him resemble a teenage mutant ninja turtle, according to one of his assistants.

"The physical therapists have told me not to wear the brace unless my back really started bothering me, so about the only time I wear it now is when I'm bouncing around on a mower," Rogers said. "But I'm better off than a lot of folks."

Rogers now has a bulging disk and another disk from which a piece broke off.

"Hey I'm doing fine," he said. "Don't make a big deal out of it, though, or my wife will start calling me a sissy."

Calhoun streak in peril?

The last time Calhoun lost at home was in 2008 against Cartersville, but that 47-game win streak will face perhaps its stiffest test tonight when, of all things, a winless team visits Phil Reeve Stadium.

Carrollton, 0-2 after tight losses to Class AAAAAA powers Kell and Newnan, handed the Yellow Jackets their worst loss in 15 years last season in Carrollton, 42-7, on the way to a state-runner-up finish in AAAA. Gone from that team are a handful of current college freshman players and longtime head coach Rayvan Teague, but don't tell Calhoun coach Hal Lamb that the Trojans are down.

"They are easily the best 0-2 team in the state," he said with a laugh. "They have speed and size and they could have won those first two games."

This is the first time the Trojans have lost their first two games since 1977, where they started 0-3 before rallying to make the playoffs. Ed Dudley is just the fifth coach for the program since 1957.

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