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Malcolm ParrishBrooks County High SchoolQuitman, Georgia by Phil Jones photography by Micki K Photography |
| In the competitive environment of South Georgia high school football, any coach would worry about losing 11 seniors from his team that made two consecutive GHSA state playoff appearances. When one of those players is a starting quarterback, his worries might be compounded. That’s the scenario Brooks County head coach Maurice Freeman faced. But for Freeman, there was still another variable to add to the equation – his new quarterback coming in to the 2010-2011 season was a true freshman, a ninth-grader. Fortunately for Freeman, he knew that his incoming freshman quarterback could get the job done, and Malcolm Parrish was ready for the challenge. Parrish began playing football for the Brooks County Middle School team in the seventh grade. He had just arrived in Quitman earlier that summer, his family having moved from Miami, Florida. Born and raised in Miami, Parrish was surrounded by the influences of football. He lived in the shadows of the Orange Bowl, the iconic South Florida venue that served as the home of the Miami Dolphins and the University of Miami Hurricanes, where Parrish’s cousin, Roscoe Parrish, played wide receiver, the same position he now plays for the NFL’s Buffalo Bills. In addition to his famous professional football playing cousin, Parrish has three older brothers – Gyone, DeAndre and Larry – who all played high school football; a younger brother, Ijohn, who jumped right in with the older brothers’ backyard football games; and an uncle who also played at the high school level in the Miami area. That uncle played tailback, a position that appealed to Parrish. Running back is the only position he played while participating in the Miami-area recreation football program. As Parrish grew older, the neighborhood streets in Miami grew meaner. Parrish’s mother, Angela, saw that while Miami was as a positive football environment for her sons, it was not proving to be much good for anything else. Parrish’s mother had close relatives in Quitman, and she knew that this was the opportunity to move the family out of South Florida and into a safer environment. They relocated to Brooks County for a new beginning. Parrish started classes in Brooks County Middle School in fall 2008. He was at the first practice for the middle school Trojans football team when the coaches announced an open tryout for anyone interested in playing quarterback. Parrish was intrigued because he had always wondered what it would be like to play that position. “I had always wanted to play quarterback in Florida,” he says, “but, every time I asked about playing, I couldn’t because my team always had someone else already playing quarterback. Plus, all the coaches knew that I had never played the position, so they were a little hesitant to give me a shot.” |
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That lack of familiarity didn’t seem to bother the Brooks County coaches. “Our middle school coaches knew that Malcolm had never played the position before,” says Freeman. “But they were very impressed at how quickly he picked up how to play the position. We knew he would be a project due to his inexperience, but he seemed to be ahead of the curve.” The one thing that did concern Freeman and his coaches was Parrish overcoming the urge to run first, an understandable trait given his background as a tailback. “We did have to work on teaching him to be patient, to go through his progressions that all quarterbacks have to do when they’re back in the pocket,” Freeman says. “For Malcolm, that part did come a little slower than most other QBs who come up in the system playing and learning the fundamentals of the position.”
In his third season overall and first as quarterback for the high school team, it looks like Parrish has just about perfected the position. This past season, he led the Trojans to the quarterfinals of the GHSA state playoffs. After starting the season 0-2 with a shutout loss to the Valdosta Wildcats, 35-0, then a 20-point loss to Columbia, Florida, Parrish brought the Trojans back, starting with three straight wins over Pelham, Monroe and Berrien. The Trojans would split the next six games to pull their record even at 5-5, good enough for the number-four seed in Region 1-AA. The Brooks County playoff run began with a stunning first-round upset of number-one seed Swainsboro and second-round upset of Vidalia, but their postseason ended with a 35-18 loss to Lovett. Parrish’s last game in his first full varsity season became one for the record books. The game marked the first time in GHSA history that two number-four seeds met in the playoffs. Parrish’s performance in the losing effort would include three rushing touchdowns, accounting for all of the Trojans scoring in the game. Parrish’s season-ending stats would provide a glimpse of what to expect from the freshman phenom: 216 rushing attempts for 900 yards with 15 rushing touchdowns, and 74-151 passing for 1120 passing yards and six touchdowns through the air. Parrish is loving his time at Brooks County, and it seems that while football is his number one sport, he has tried others. “I have been playing basketball for a couple of years now since I got to Brooks, and I plan to play again this year.” Looking ahead, Freeman says, “[Parrish] has all of the tools and skills necessary to continue to get better as our quarterback. His poise and maturity is something you normally don’t see in a freshman.” According to Freeman, the intangibles set Parrish apart. “Recently, during the school year, I had decided to take a personal day from school, and I was going to do some fishing. I had been out on the lake, everything was quiet, and suddenly, my phone rang. It was Malcolm. He had come to the coaches office, saw that I wasn’t there, and I guess he became concerned about me. He called me and asked where I was. I told him I that I had taken a day off and had decided to do some fishing. I have never, in all of my years of teaching and coaching, had a player check on me while I was away from campus. That really showed me a lot about Malcolm’s makeup and his character.” • | |
