Dade County's Malaki Webb (12) goes up the middle for a Wolverine touchdown. The Dade County Wolverines visited the Gordon Lee Trojans in GHSA football action on August, 18, 2016. Malaki Webb rushed for 135 yards on 11 carries and scored three touchdowns for Dade County in his first football game of 2016.
It was an aberration. Freshmen aren't supposed to make those kinds of contributions.
Less than a dozen of the more than 60 high school football programs in the Chattanooga area had a freshman starter to begin the 2016 season.
"Usually they're just not developed - not ready to play mentally or physically," observed veteran Meigs County coach Jason Fitzgerald, who has coached at the 5A, 4A and now 2A levels.
At Northwest Whitfield, coach Josh Robinson has three teams, and the biggest freshman promotion has been moving three from the ninth-grade team to the junior varsity. In his years at Northwest, only one freshman has started for the varsity, and that was kicker Miguel Villa.
"The last freshman (nonkicker) to start was just before I got here, and that was Caleb Callahan, and he only started after several injuries," Robinson said.
Fitzgerald is coaching one of the aberrations. Meigs ninth-grader Aaron Swafford not only starts both ways but also at quarterback on offense. He is, though, a coach's son and has been around football and football philosophies probably since his diaper days.
It is quite often, though, the skill guys who are first to get on the field.
"It's most often a different body type," Fitzgerald said. "When you talk about linemen, so many haven't filled out and they're being asked to compete against guys with three, four years in the weight room. Skill guys are out in space. If they can run a little bit, they have a chance to play early."
Starting freshmen is nothing new, however, at Notre Dame - at least during current coach Charles Fant's tenure.
Among the Irish's 2016 spring graduates were four-year starters Alex Darras, a quarterback; Tyler Enos, a linebacker; and Robert Murphy, a two-way lineman.
Fant started this year with freshmen at quarterback (Landon Allen), in the secondary (Jeffery Watkins) and in the offensive line (Jacob Brigman).
"I don't think there has been a season, even when I was an offensive coordinator, that I didn't have freshmen at least in the mix," the Irish coach said. "We have 16 freshmen and four played in major rotations, and one of the bigger guys comes in for goal line."
Fant agreed with Fitzgerald's skill-player assessment.
"Absolutely," he said when asked about skill guys most often getting on the field first. "If they're ready to play, I play them. But it's rare to get big guys who are ready to play like that, and I've never had a freshmen center to start."
Brigman is one of two freshman centers starting in the Chattanooga area, joining Baylor bruiser Christian Martin.
"He snaps it as hard in the shotgun as any Division I center I've seen," Fant said of the 6-foot, 205-pound Brigman. "We have got to get him bigger, but he's going to be a great one. Any team that pulls with the center will kill to have this kid."
Martin is big (6-foot-4, 265), but even at that it's most unusual to see a freshman starting for a Division II-AA football team.
"This is my 11th year and George Porter is the only freshman that had started for us, and that was at running back," Baylor coach Phil Massey said.
"That first time in high school there is a steep learning curve, and typically with the talent level in our league (freshmen starting) is unusual and certainly not anticipated," he added. "As a coach you don't want to throw a kid in the fire too soon, but some are mentally and physically mature at that age and they're doing a good job."
He said moving up and in had been a smooth transition for defensive back and running back Terrance Roberts.
"Christian's grading out well and he makes some of our blocking calls," Massey said, "but he's also got the heavy responsibility of securing the snap. On one side he has a senior, and on the other side is the guy who played center for us all last year. He has guys around him that can nurture him along the way."
Roberts is one of those small-package guys (5-8, 150), but his biggest attribute is an innate ability to make open-field tackles.
"He has great speed, he's very physically mature and he's quite strong. Both of those guys are very coachable," Massey said.
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him at Twitter.com/wardgossett.