Slater Hickman had patiently waited for last Friday night for a long time.
Like his teammates, the Soddy-Daisy High School junior had spent days, weeks and months looking forward to the start of a new football season. In a way, though, Hickman had been waiting for the moment even longer: Last week’s home game against Loudon represented his chance to take over as the Trojans’ starting quarterback, the culmination of years of work.
Hickman was 5 years old when he fell in love with the sport and began practicing his throwing motion. At this point, he could probably hit a receiver on a post pattern in his sleep.
Despite the graduation of all-state quarterback Isaac Barnes, who threw for 3,850 yards and 40 touchdowns over the past two seasons, Soddy-Daisy’s offense seems to be in good hands with the 6-foot-1, 185-pound Hickman. Aside from having a strong arm and a quick release, he understands the system well and aims to approach games in a manner any coach would find favorable in a quarterback.
“The biggest thing I am looking forward to is seeing all the guys score,” said Hickman, who passed for 264 yards in last week’s 31-6 loss to Loudon. “My goal is to get all of them touchdowns. I want to spread the ball around and get them even touches and make sure my teammates get all the glory.”
Even before the season began and Hickman’s big moment arrived, the Trojans reciprocated the love back to their leader behind center and his younger brother, Keagan, who is a freshman running back.
On Aug. 13, exactly one week before the opener, the Hickman brothers lost their mother. Tracy Michelle Hickman, who had cancer, was 54 when she died.
“The day my mom passed, I walked into the locker room and all of our teammates came up and lifted us up,” Slater said. “You can’t ask for a better group of guys than this. They are really the best teammates you could ever ask for. We’ve grown up together, and they are a second family to me. We go to war together. We all have each other’s back at all times.”
Staff photo by Patrick MacCoon / Soddy-Daisy junior Slater Hickman hopes to be the latest in a line of successful quarterbacks who have played for the Trojans.With an experienced offensive line in front of him and a solid receiver corps that includes Trevor Alexander, Eli Coffelt, Drew Lewis and Gavin Lane, his supporting cast could help him put up big numbers this season.
Hickman hopes to continue a long line of successful quarterbacks at Soddy-Daisy, a talented group that includes Hunter Maynor, who threw for a city single-game record of 451 yards and set a program record for passing yards in a season with more than 3,200 in 2014.
Soddy-Daisy head coach Justin Barnes, known as a quarterback guru, has seen Hickman grow from fourth grade to now as he takes on the key leadership role.
“Slater is a great young man who is smart and very talented,” Barnes said. “Tracy was a great mother and his No. 1 fan. I know he’s missing her, but he’s doing what he wanted to do and what she wanted him to do. The support she had for her sons and their love for football is something that keeps them pushing to be the best every time they are out here.
“Slater wants to accomplish the dreams and goals he and his mother had set out to accomplish.”
Tragedy kept Tracy Hickman from being in the stands as the Trojans opened their season and her quarterback son took the field with the offense at his command, the wait finally over. That such a moment happened, though, is in no small part due to her, if you ask him.
It’s been said that a mother’s love is endless, and in the case of Slater Hickman, it has already carried him a long way. Now he’s determined to show his love for her by staying on the path they charted together.
“My mom was the one who pushed me the most to be the best person and athlete I could be,” he said. “She wanted me to go off to college and play football in college. So that’s what we are going to do. Play for her.
“My love for my mother will provide all the energy, motivation and fuel I need.”
Contact Patrick MacCoon at pmaccoon@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @PMacCoon.