News Channel 8 (ABC affiliate)
D.C. students take part in National Football Signing Day
By Britt McHenry
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
This piece featuring Friendship Collegiate Academy Public Charter School is more than two minutes in length. To watch the clip, please click here: http://www.news8.net/news/stories/0210/702631.html
The transcript is below:
WASHINGTON - High school football players from across the area took part in National Football Signing Day.
It's the earliest scholarship-receiving players are able to commit to a collegiate program. And for one Northeast public charter school, the day carried even more significance.
Darious Holly never imagined he'd sign a national letter of intent to play football at the collegiate level. In fact, a few years ago, he never even thought he'd play football at all.
At just 12 years old, both of his parents had passed away. And by the time he started high school, Holly says he was already headed in the wrong direction.
"I wasn't into anything; I wasn't doing any positive things," he said.
But things changed when he met Friendship Collegiate Academy's head football coach.
"He just needed structure and being around positive people," said coach Aazaar Rahim. "He needed a lot of male figures in his life."
Holly found 33 of those figures when he transferred to Friendship Collegiate and joined the football team. Many of his teammates, like strong-safety Harlynn McNeil, came from tough backgrounds.
"My best friend lived down the street and he wanted to be a hustler and steal cars and stuff like that and I wanted to play football," he said.
But the program faced its share of challenges. The players don't have a home field to call their own, and recently the violence near campus was so bad, the principal spearheaded an effort to get District police officers on campus as school resource officers.
"One of the challenges is what they encounter every day coming to and from school," noted Principal Peggy Pendergrass.
But that challenge is paying off for Holly, who is now seeing his dream come true as he gets ready to hit the field at West Virginia State University.
"My teammates they helped out," he said. "It's just like a lot of love shown."
Holly will be joined by three of his teammates at West Virginia State University.
While these players are moving on, the coach says the team is still very young, and there's already a sophomore getting recruited by top Division 1 programs.