In early 2014, Jaylend Ratliffe was a high school football star.\u00a0 He was then a junior.\u00a0 However, he was so talented he was already highly recruited – a “four star” recruit, to be precise.<\/p>\n
One of the colleges recruiting him was Georgia Tech.\u00a0 In March 2014, that school\u2019s head coach – Paul Johnson \u2013 visited Ratliffe.\u00a0 During the visit, Johnson told Ratliffe the following:\u00a0 “Jaylend, I want you to know something. Here at Georgia Tech, we’re not like other schools. If anything ever happens to you, we’re going to honor your scholarship.”<\/p>\n
Ratliffe believed Johnson.\u00a0 He committed to Georgia Tech.<\/p>\n
Five months later, in July, Ratliffe and a friend went riding ATVs.\u00a0 There weren\u2019t enough helmets for all riders.\u00a0 Because they didn\u2019t plan “to do nothing stupid”, they decided to leave the helmets behind.<\/p>\n
As you can guess: bad move.\u00a0 Ratliffe and his passenger, a teammate, were involved in a serious accident.\u00a0 Both were injured.<\/p>\n
Ratliffe was injured the most seriously.\u00a0 He had suffered a skull fracture and a traumatic brain injury with intracranial bleeding.<\/p>\n
He was taken to a major hospital and trauma center for treatment.\u00a0 Initially, Ratliffe seemed to be improving.\u00a0 But two days after the accident, his condition nosedived \u2013 and turned critical.<\/p>\n
Ratliffe was placed in a medically induced coma for a week.\u00a0 Part of his skull was removed to release pressure on his brain.<\/p>\n
When Ratliffe awoke, he was partially paralyzed.\u00a0 He never played his senior season of high school football.<\/p>\n
Many college coaches would have revoked his scholarship at this point.\u00a0 Instead, Georgia Tech honored it.<\/p>\n
After extensive rehabilitation and therapy, Ratliffe has made a good recovery.\u00a0 He now walks and talks normally. He is even able to compete in certain athletic events \u2013 such as track and field, where he does well at the college level. But he\u2019s lost, likely permanently, some fine motor skills. His left hand (before his injury, he was a left-handed quarterback) has not completely healed, and his balance is still affected.\u00a0 He\u2019ll likely not ever play college football.<\/p>\n
Yet he is today attending Georgia Tech \u2013 on scholarship.\u00a0 He has full access to all of the facilities and services that other student-athletes there have.\u00a0 And as Paul Johnson puts it:\u00a0 “It will a near miracle for him to play again. (sic) But we’re happy to have him as a student-assistant.”<\/p>\n
. . .<\/p>\n
Christian Easter is a holiday of faith, and (one might say) of second chances. Somehow this story just seems apropos for today.<\/p>\n
A young man has faith in another man. That other man later honors his word, even though circumstances have changed dramatically.\u00a0 And because of that, the young man gets a second chance.<\/p>\n
Kudos, Paul Johnson.\u00a0 You don’t seem to be a vet.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know whether you learned to keep your word during your coaching stints at Navy (1995-1996 and 2002-2007) or where you were raised in western North Carolina nearly 40 years earlier.<\/p>\n
I’d personally guess the latter – but it doesn’t matter.\u00a0 You appear to be one a helluva fine man, regardless.<\/p>\n