DALTON, Ga. -- If Coty Burch continues at his current pace, the Southeast Whitfield senior running back will end his high school football career with over 4,000 rushing yards.
The 5-foot-11, 175-pounder already is the Raiders' all-time leading rusher, setting the mark in last week's historic 70-0 win over Murray County, but there was a time three years ago that all this success would have been pure fantasy.
Burch was ready to hang up his spikes before he had taken his first handoff. The razor-thin Raiders and then first-year coach David Crane kept Burch on varsity, but due to a lack of depth they didn't let him play junior varsity even though he wasn't playing. Crane remembers meeting with the young player and his mother.
"About five weeks in, he's hit the ninth-grade wall and doesn't want to practice anymore," Crane said. "It was very emotional, but we talked him into staying. A few weeks later he saw some action on varsity and even started the final game. Since then you couldn't run him off, and it's rewarding for me to know that he went from sitting in this office wanting to quit as a freshman to becoming the school's all-time leading rusher. It's pretty cool."
That perseverance led to a 1,000-yard sophomore season and 1,400 yards and a berth on the Best of Preps All-North Georgia first team. And he did that in a spread, pass-first offense that running backs often get lost in, especially at his size.
"In this style of offense with only one back, that guy is going to take a lot of shots," Crane said. "There's no fullback leading him up there, so he's a marked man back there. He's still very consistent and durable, and he's a good between-the-tackles runner. It surprises a lot of people because he's not a big guy -- he's finally up to 170 pounds -- but he has a good, quick burst to the hole and he gets a lot of yards after contact."
Asked about his ascension to the top of the school's rushing list past former all-star Patrick Fields, Burch quickly deflected the praise.
"It's pretty crazy, but I know it's not all me," he said. "The linemen do all the work and they go uncredited, so I always think about them and the receivers who sacrifice themselves downfield. This offense is really good for me, because with the opposing defensive backs spread out the middle is usually open.
"I'm still not comfortable with blocking, but it's something I have to do to contribute to the team. It's my part that I can do for my receivers and quarterback."
In most people's eyes, Southeast took a step backward last season. Following a 5-5 year in 2009, the Raiders were 1-9 a year ago, but lost in the record was the fact that they had only five seniors. Crane's first full senior class, 22 strong, has more than just a .500 record as its main goal.
"We're a good football team," Burch said. "We've had to work on our defense, but you can tell there's been an improvement there. We have to keep the same mentality all year that we started with last week, but if we do I believe we are a playoff team."
Regardless of the finish, Burch said he will hang up his cleats for good this time when the season is over.
"Yeah, I plan to go to college, but this will be my last hurrah for football," he said, for a moment reflecting back to that meeting as a freshman. "I'm really glad I stuck with it, though. It's turned out really well, I guess you could say."