Running to stardom

Jake Pratt had so much on his mind, he didn’t even hear the play call. 

Turns out, he didn’t need to.

The Vestavia Hills High School senior’s dream came true on Aug. 25, when the Rebels took on Briarwood in a jamboree game. Although time had expired, there was time for one more play, a play that will never be forgotten by those in attendance.

“Coach [Buddy] Anderson said he was going to put me in in the fourth quarter, and then I went out there and I put my mouthpiece in to get ready,” Pratt said.

Pratt, who has Down syndrome, ran onto the field and was pulled into the offensive huddle by quarterback Eli Sawyer. Whatever play call was given, Pratt didn’t hear it.

When asked what was said in the huddle, Pratt shrugged.

“I don’t know,” he nonchalantly answered.

Sawyer took the snap and buried the pigskin into Pratt’s chest. He was lined up in the backfield as the deep back in the I-formation.

He then did what running back coach Greg Smith told him.

“The running back coach is Coach Smith,” Pratt said. “He’s one of my favorite coaches. He told me to go straight and turn left.”

As Pratt took the handoff, he darted off left tackle and turned up field as he neared the sideline.

“I was thinking I was not going to fumble,” Pratt said.

He didn’t fumble, and there wasn’t a Briarwood defender that could catch him. And there certainly wasn’t a dry eye left in Thompson Reynolds Stadium after Pratt’s 34-yard touchdown scamper.

As soon as Pratt crossed the goal line, he was met by a mob of Vestavia and Briarwood players, who all quickly realized the magnitude of the moment and joined Pratt in celebration.

“Vestavia and Briarwood together, they were congratulating me,” Pratt said. “We got in a big huddle and they were picking me up.”

“It was a very moving moment to see how our kids reacted and to see how the Briarwood kids reacted,” Anderson said. 

Pratt enjoyed the celebration for a moment, but he wasn’t finished. He managed to wiggle his way out of the mass of football players and made his way down the Rebel sideline, where he made room for his chosen touchdown theatric, the dab.

“I put the ball down and did my celebration dance,” he said.

Even though this is Pratt’s first year to play football — he has been a manager for the Rebel football team each of the last two years — he knew just where to look after reaching the end zone.

“I saw [my parents] when I scored,” he said. “My mom was screaming in the background. I got that touchdown, and my dad and my mom were so happy that I scored.”

The moment made Pratt an instant star, taking the country by storm. Social media was set ablaze that night with video of the play shot by his sister, Amy Hyde. Media outlets across the country picked up the story.

Smith said the team had no idea that the play would gain as much attention as it has, but that was never the purpose to begin with.

“I don’t think anybody thought about that,” Smith said. “The focus was on him and letting him experience what all these other guys get to experience, and that is truly being part of something bigger than yourself.”

The moment was fleeting, to be sure, but it was also a byproduct of hard work put in over the offseason. When Pratt expressed an interest to be on the team this fall, Anderson laid out a condition.

“He’s got to do everything,” Anderson told his parents.

Pratt showed up all spring and summer and went through every workout. Even when it got tough, he persevered.

“There was many a day he didn’t want to run those stadiums [workouts], but he did,” Anderson said.

But by the time the jamboree game rolled around, Pratt had done everything asked of him, and the scene was set. The moment was so special for his Rebel teammates and coaches because of all that he had done to deserve that play, that carry and that touchdown.

“He earned the respect of the rest of the players,” Anderson said. “He earned their respect by being out there every day. They were excited for him when we put the play in for him on Thursday [the day before the game].”

Pratt’s touchdown received so much notoriety that Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney took notice and invited Pratt to Clemson’s game against Auburn on Sept. 9. On his way out of the tunnel onto the field, Swinney stopped to greet Pratt and told him he “looked good in orange.”

Pratt donned a Clemson polo shirt that day, despite Auburn being his favorite college football team. Auburn’s 14-6 loss to Clemson that night was likely not enough to dampen his spirits. Pratt said Cam Newton, the 2010 Heisman Trophy winner at Auburn, is his favorite player.

Like Newton’s Heisman and national championship at Auburn weren’t given to him, neither was Pratt’s moment of glory. He earned it with hard work and perseverance, and when the opportunity was presented, he took the bull by the horns, whether he knew the play call or not. 

“That’s something he’ll never forget,” Smith said.