BREMEN, Ga. — Monday was the first time back on the football field for Bremen High School’s team after their star quarterback was badly injured during last Friday’s game.
The Bremen Blue Devils were practicing without quarterback Carson Kimball, who is recovering from spinal surgery at Grady Memorial Hospital.
The team is doing their best to cope with the situation and preparing to win this Friday, just like Kimball would want them to.
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“It’s really tough... an emotion I’ve never been through before,” Coach Davis Russell said.
He said Kimball spoke to him while he was being placed into the ambulance after being injured.
“He was positive. He looked at me and said, ‘I love you coach. It’s going to be okay.’ We’re supposed to be encouraging him in that moment and that dude is encouraging us. That’s just who he is. That’s why we’re going to honor him in everything we do,” Russell said.
Getting back to practice and preparing to win on Friday is one way to honor Kimball.
Russell told Channel 2′s Veronica Griffin that his tough-as-nails quarterback sent him a text message on Monday morning, telling him him and the team to do just that.
“It says, ‘You’ll fly around in practice today. We love you. Go beat McNair,” Russell said of the message.
Russell knows that Kimball’s teammates are hurting for him too and says they’re all pulling together and coping the best way they can as a team and with the support of the community.
“(We’ll) just be there for him and love him. And be there for each other. We’ve all hurt. We’ve all cried together. We’ve all hugged. This community has been unbelievable,” Russell said.
The team has a special tribute planned for Kimball during this Friday’s game.
Russell said for the first play of the game he will send the team onto the field with only 10 players with no quarterback.
The team will then take a knee and the penalty to honor Kimball.
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