CALHOUN, Ga. – J.T. Palmer didn’t take the criticism personally. Instead, the Calhoun High School senior receiver used it as motivation.
Preseason talk on the Yellow Jackets’ offense centered on the loss of five-star recruit Da’Rick Rogers, who departed for the University of Tennessee after setting a state receiving record and leading Calhoun into the Class AA championship game. No way, the talk went, could the Jackets be anywhere near as explosive without the dynamic Rogers. Opponents would concentrate on shutting down senior running back Dustin Christian.
Thirteen games, 977 yards and 10 touchdowns later from Palmer, unbeaten Calhoun is back in the semifinals and its offense is just fine. The Jackets’ average of 41 points per game is actually two points better than last year’s 14-1 team, due in large part to the 6-foot-3 Palmer and his playmaking ability.
“J.T. is special. He makes plays and he’s done it all season,” coach Hal Lamb said after Palmer had two touchdowns in last week’s 31-13 win over Fitzgerald, including an end-of-the-half Hail Mary scoring catch that seemed to demoralize the visitors. “He makes big catches every game. He’s got good size and he’s faster than people think. And he’ll catch anything thrown his way.”
Following the Fitzgerald game, which gave him five touchdowns in the three postseason wins, Palmer was able to laugh at the early talk of the offense’s demise.
“It feels great being a part of this offense,”said Palmer, who is considering appointments from the Naval Academy and the Air Force and an offer from Vanderbilt. “You can’t take the criticism to heart because those people didn’t know the type of players we had coming back and how much heart we have.
“I understood because we had Da’Rick last year and he meant so much to this team. But being the go-to guy this year, I knew I needed to step up and play more to my abillity. I feel I still have a ways to go, but I’m doing what they’re asking me to do and so far it’s working well.”
Christian has rushed for 1,400 yards, and first-year starting quarterback Landon Curtis – who also replaced an all-star in another Tennessee Vol, Nash Nance – believes the offense is up for Friday’s challenge of hosting top-ranked Carver of Columbus (7:30 kickoff). When defenses key on one standout, the other usually takes over.
“He’s just so good,” Curtis said of Palmer. “If Dustin isn’t getting much, I know I can throw it to J.T. and he’s going to make something happen. It’s hard to stop the two-headed monster with Dustin and J.T. Against Carver we have to just play like we’ve been playing and get it done. We’ve seen teams can play with them. With them coming here, I believe we have a really good shot.”