According to the NCAA, about 7% of high school football players move on to play in college. Of that 7%, only 1.6% go on to make the NFL, so even though playing professional football may be a dream for many high school football players, it’s a near impossibility for almost 99% of them that they’ll ever have the chance to step foot on the field with an NFL team.
But for Gaffney High School, the defending SCHSL AAAAA state champion, players were able to do something that might truly be once in a lifetime: practice alongside an NFL team.
The Carolina Panthers — who hold their annual training camp at Wofford College — invited Gaffney to participate in a unified practice.
“I think if you play football, that’s always the goal and the dream to play in the NFL. Being out here with these guys like Baker (Mayfield) and Sam (Darnold), seeing first hand definitely kind of realizes the dream a little bit ,” said Gaffney quarterback and Duke commit Grayson Loftis.
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This experience was surely one that Gaffney players will remember for a long time, but it also allowed members of the Panthers to reflect a bit on what it meant to be in the positions they’re in.
“It was so fun. We paused practice to watch them scrimmage. I remember everything about high school football, so watching them practice and you know, just live contact in every single drill, it was special,” said Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey. “It was really fun to just take a break and watch that and reminisce a little bit.”
“It kind of just takes me back to when I was in high school, I would have loved to come out here and practice with an NFL team,” said Panthers linebacker Brian Burns.
Not only did the Panthers players have the chance to reminisce about their high school days, they were also reminded by Gaffney coach Dan Jones that they were living the dream.
“I told those guys that they’re living the dreams of these high school kids … plus millions of other kids across the United States,” Jones said. “I don’t want them to ever take that for granted, because that was their dream … so take advantage of it and don’t ever forget it and appreciate it.”
Coach Jones, did your team get better today? “No doubt.”
Although it was a special moment for the Panthers, it was a moment for Gaffney to get better by watching the professionals at work and picking up a few tips and tricks of the trade.
“Being able to watch — even just the warmups and their special teams period — we noticed each guy giving everything they got on every rep, because each snap is a job interview … so I think our guys got better today,” Loftis said. .
And when Loftis was asked what piece of advice he got that he’s going to take out of this experience, he responded: “Just keeping my head down and working, if you have questions, ask them. There’s plenty of people in this football world who are willing to answer them … the biggest piece of advice that our guys took away from today was just put your head down and keep working.”