NASHVILLE — McCallie senior Carson Gentle did exactly what University of Tennessee football coach Josh Heupel asked him to do in his final high school wrestling match.
Instead of trying to pry Gentle away to enroll early in Knoxville and get started on his college football career, Heupel encouraged the Volunteers defensive line signee to continue wrestling — and told him to make sure he won it all.
Gentle did exactly that and more as he dominated his way to his first individual state championship by pummeling his competition, picking up first-period pins in all three of his matches during the TSSAA Division II traditional tournament, which wrapped up Saturday after two days of competition at Montgomery Bell Academy.
Gentle, who helped McCallie win the DII-AAA football state championship in December, also helped the Blue Tornado wrestling team sweep the state duals and traditional tournament titles for the first time since 1993.
“This is so special to all of us,” said Gentle, who finished the season 25-1 overall at 285 pounds. “The past few years we haven’t placed well in a lot of stuff. But this year we had just enough senior leadership mixed with really talented young guys. Hopefully they can keep building on what we were able to accomplish and get even better and better.”