Heritage High School has a new football star.
But he doesn’t throw the ball 50 yards, make bone-jarring tackles or run the 40-yard dash in 4.5 seconds.
Logan Pickett specializes in smiles, and now that his story has received national attention, the Generals’ team manager might have to hire an agent.
Pickett, a special needs student, suited up in last week’s homecoming game against Cartersville and scored the Generals’ only touchdown. The moment was caught on film and shared with the country this week on CBS Evening News.
“That guy has more friends than anybody in the school,” said football coach E.K. Slaughter, who worked with Cartersville coach Joey King to help make the special moment a reality. “It’s just cool to see how everybody takes him in and loves him. He’s loving it, but he’s handling it well.”
Slaughter praised the Cartersville coaching staff and players for their cooperation. The state’s top-ranked Class AAAA team not only let a potential shutout get away – the Purple Hurricanes won 42-6 to improve to 5-0 overall and 2-0 in Region 7-4A – King put his first-team defense on the field.
The reaction of the Cartersville players is something that will stay with those who were in attendance on an otherwise dreary evening.
“I think that was one of the cooler parts of it,” Slaughter said. “The willingness of Coach King to allow it to happen wasn’t something you normally see out of programs with legitimate state championship hopes. I also thought the gesture of him putting his first-team defense in says a lot about them.
“It teaches more than football to his kids. I absolutely love the way they celebrated. No. 4 (Tiamon Pennymon) jumping up and down was awesome.”
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6296. Follow him at Twitter.com/youngsports 22.