Is he a football player or a basketball player? Bledsoe County's Nathaniel Collins is noncommittal.
"Both," he responded when asked.
For now the senior's a football player, but the 6-foot-4, 185-pounder is just coming off another summer of AAU basketball.
"I'm getting letters from colleges for both sports but not any offers yet," he said.
Because of basketball he was forced to decline football camp invitations from Tennessee and Middle Tennessee State.
In basketball he plays a wing and in football he is a wide receiver and safety, but Collins has used both sports with help from his brothers to move beyond the most trying time of his life. He lost his mother almost a year ago to cancer.
"He's listening to his brothers. They're pretty tight," Bledsoe coach Jason Reel said. "I was concerned how he'd accept them as his caretakers, but if they tell him to be home at 10, he's going to be there. He's in a lot better place now than he was."
As one might expect, Collins was devastated by the loss and actually took time off from football last season.
"He was so reliant on his mother," Reel said. "I think he's come to realize that everything he does can't be for her, but he needs to remember how she raised him."
If not for his mother, Collins might have been solely a basketball player.
"She was a big football fan and I think in the beginning she was the reason he tried football," Reel said, "and I think staying busy with the two sports has been a big positive in his life."
Where he goes from Pikeville is obviously up in the air, but Josh Owensby, the Warriors' offensive coordinator, believes Collins could have his pick of football schools.
"The sky's the limit athletically," Owensby said. "As much basketball as he plays in the summer, it's hard to get him here for technique and fundamentals [work], but as far as potential the kid can be as good as he wants to be."
- Ward Gossett
BLEDSOE COUNTY WARRIORS
Head coach: Jason Reel (sixth year, 29-25 here and overall)
Last year: 2-8; last made playoffs in 2011
Returning starters (O/D/K): 9/8/0
2014 Schedule
(all games at 8 Eastern unless noted)
Aug. 22 - Cumberland County
Aug. 29 - Marion County
Sept. 5 - at Signal Mountain, 7*
Sept. 12 - at York Institute
Sept. 19 - at Notre Dame, 7:30*
Sept. 26 - Lookout Valley
Oct. 3 - Sequatchie County*
Oct. 17 - at Grundy County*
Oct. 24 - Silverdale Baptist
Oct. 31 - Chattanooga Christian*
- District 7-AA game
Control panel: C Tyler Young (5-11, 220, Sr.), G Blake Sorrow (6-0, 285, Sr.) and T Dustin Boynton (6-0, 190, Sr.) anchor the Warriors offensive line. Young and Sorrow also will play some on the defensive line, and Boynton will be at linebacker.
New producers: Two players Reel expects to have breakout seasons are WR/OLB Drew Summers (6-0, 200, Sr.) and RB/DB Joseph Gore (5-9, 170, So.). "Summers has really good speed and he's quite athletic, and Gore is a tough kid with good speed and good balance," Reel said.
Items of interest: One of the stiffest playing-time battles comes at quarterback under new offensive coordinator Josh Owensby. The two competitors are Connor Boynton (6-4, 190, Sr.) and Chaise Sorrow (5-10, 185, So.). The Warriors will be in a spread, which was formidable when Owensby was at the school previously. "You come in one day after practice and you're leaning one way, and the next day you may be learning the other," he said.
Reel is a former Volunteer, having spent two years as a defensive tackle under Dan Brooks and three as a student assistant to Tennessee defensive coordinator John Chavis. "I tore ligaments in my ankles for the fifth time, and doctors said they were either cutting the ligaments and taking out all the bone chips or I was done," Reel said. "It was an education and a unique experience."
After back-to-back 2-8 seasons, the Warriors are eager to return to better days when this year's seniors were freshmen and Bledsoe had a 10-2 season, the school's first since 1995. Reel also had a 7-4 season in 2010 and an 8-3 record in his first year.