Elijah Qualls had to stiff arm many obstacles in his young life, but thanks to the stability and support he received from Casa Grande High School's football program, the 17-year-old has been offered 29 full scholarships from BCS schools.
Photo by Sumner Fowler
teetered on the edge. He almost quit school. He seemed destined for jail or some place worse and more permanent.
He lived in one of the roughest neighborhoods of Sacramento - Oak Park - milling around “unimaginable” things according to his stepdad Dejuan Miggins.
“You name it,” Miggins told
Santa Rosa Press-Democrat columnist Bob Padecky. “It had everything.”
Qualls saw one of his best friends die in the street. He witnessed drive-bys, drug deals and prostitution. He was virtually on a first-name basis with police officers and SWAT team members. He was being sucked in and he knew it and he couldn’t control it. That made him angry and tense. He constantly looked over his shoulder. He was heading down a dead-end street.
Elijah Qualls rushed for 1,139 yards
and 13 touchdowns last season.
Photo by Sumner Fowler
He was kicked out of Cordova High School (Rancho Cordova, Calif.) near the end of his freshman year. His grade point average hovered at just more than 1.5 and his aspirations were meager: Somehow finish high school and play junior college football.
But last summer his stepdad moved Qualls 80 miles west to where he grew up in Petaluma, a slow bedroom community of almost 60,000 residents. It borders the wine country and is known for its chickens, cows and arm wrestling.
Miggins enrolled Qualls, a 6-foot-2, 260-pound fullback/defensive lineman/athlete at
Casa Grande (Petaluma, Calif.), where he immediately immersed himself in the football lifestyle. Without outside pressures, he was able to focus strictly on weight training, the intricacies of the game and most important, teammates.
Friendships flourished. His game blossomed. Dreams began to sprout.
“He’s an awesome kid on and off the field. He's personable, polite and respectful. His personality is infectious. Everyone loved him immediately," said Casa Grande coach Trent Herzog. "He just needed a place to find home, a place he could channel his energy into a healthy endeavor. We provided the structure and framework. He provided the hard work and natural talent. Plus he then had to make the right decisions.”
He worked as hard in the classroom as he did on the football field. He upped his GPA to 2.7 and is aiming for 3.0 or better.
And now – only a year removed from teetering into darkness - virtually every college in the country is after this 17-year-old who will be a senior in the fall.
He’s worked his body to 285 pounds. But with superior speed, flexibility and athleticism for a lad his size, Qualls is considered the biggest football recruit in the Redwood Empire region in almost three decades.
Last weekend he attended a Top 100 recruiting camp in Georgia. On Monday, he'll take a visit to the University of Washington. In the next two weeks, he’s expected to make his college pick between the Huskies, USC, Oregon State, Cal or Michigan. He currently has 29 offers from BCS schools.
He told Padecky “I don’t want to go somewhere and be treated like a piece of meat. I want relationships, a support system, people who care, people who have my back.”
Those are all the things that Casa Grande’s football program has provided. Those are all the things that high school sports programs largely provide and why studies support the notion that organized athletics lays a strong and sturdy foundation for life. It also leads to better grades, discipline and general school attendance.
Asked Friday where he would be today if there were no high school sports - and specifically Casa Grande football - Qualls said: "To be honest, I'd probably be in jail. A year ago I wasn't going anywhere except trouble. I always wanted to accomplish great things. I wanted to do go the right direction, but I didn't quite have the support. Not the support I've found here."
Studies and research show that though Qualls' obstacles were great and his accomplishments now are exceptional, his transformation and improvement are on par with national trends.
Countless studies support participation/performanceAccording to the
National Federation of State High School Associations, the governing body for high school sports nationally, more than 7.6 million students participated in athletics during the 2010-11 school year. (Statistics for the just-completed school year are not yet available).
The number of athletes participating has increased nationally every year since the 1989-90 school year, and that's a good thing on a variety of levels.
First, of course, that means the mere opportunity to participate in athletics has never been greater. Simply, there has to be teams to support that growth.
Additionally, spend a few minutes searching the Internet and it's easy to find study after study that supports a link between high school participation in athletics/activities and academic performance. Also, watch any NCAA game on TV these days and you will see an oft-played commercial touting the academic accomplishments of college student-athletes.
It shouldn't be a surprise the issue is coming to the forefront as education budgets, particularly high school athletic/activities funding, continue to take hits across the country.
"The purpose of our existence is based around educational opportunities as they pertain to athletics," said Elliot Hopkins, the director of educational services for the NFHS. "For all involved, athletics are just another form of a classroom that happens to be outside of the building. So it stands to reason that kids who participate in sports typically get better grades than those who don't.
"That's a simple fact. We've known that little secret for decades."
To that end, the NFHS publishes a brochure entitled "The Case for High School Activities" that cites numerous reports supporting the cause.
Skeptics might argue that statistics can be used to substantiate whatever outcome is desired, but it's hard to argue with some of the stark facts and findings detailed in the NFHS brochure. Among them:
- A 2001 study commissioned by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association found that the mean grade-point average for student-athletes was 0.81 points higher than those of non-participants. Athletes also missed significantly less school days.
- Also, citing a U.S. Department of Education report as part of the No Child Left Behind initiative, students who don't participate in athletics/activities are "49 percent more likely to use drugs and 37 percent more likely to become teen parents" than those who do.
- The benefits extend beyond high school, as well. According to a 2006 study by the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement, it was determined that among adults ages 18-25, those who participated in sports while in high school were more apt to vote and volunteer than non-participants.
