A shared success

Dalton High’s Caylor Summers hasn’t been on the football field as a player since he was a freshman, becoming a team manager when injuries forced him to give up the game. The Catamounts’ Danté Thomas was such a shutdown defensive back in his final two seasons, most opposing coaches didn’t want their players on his part of the field.

The two seniors’ roles in the program the past few years were distinctly different, but both celebrated the success of signing college scholarships Wednesday during a party at the school. And Cats coach Matt Land pointed out some overwhelming similarities between the two — both Summers and Thomas meant plenty to him in his first two seasons leading the program, and the dedication shown by each set high standards for those who will fill their positions in the future.

Summers will receive a scholarship paying at least the majority of his tuition and expenses at Alabama’s Jacksonville State, where he will be a manager for the Gamecocks’ Division I FCS program. Thomas — who signed his letter of intent a week ago on national signing day — will play for Division II power Carson-Newman, which had recorded 25 consecutive winning seasons before going 5-6 last year.

The 5-foot-11-inch, 170-pound Thomas had 62 tackles and three interceptions as a senior, numbers that might have been higher if his reputation hadn’t preceded him with offensive coordinators. He returned both a kick and a pick for a touchdown this past season, when he was selected to The Daily Citizen’s All-Area Football team.

“It’s similar to a pro situation,” Land said. “The reason you don’t see a Darelle Revis or a Deion Sanders leading in interceptions is because nobody’s going to throw to that side.”

Thomas, a team captain, also set an example with his work ethic. After last year’s spring practice sessions, he received the team’s Danny Dantzler “Heart of the Catamount” Award, given to the player whose offseason dedication stood out above all others.

In more ways than one, Thomas gave his coaches an example they’ll use for years to come — perhaps with video evidence.

“There’s certain games that he had great games that we’re going to look at and say that’s kind of the benchmark for us in how we want our cornerbacks to play,” Land said. “The residual effect of a Danté Thomas is immediately felt by what he did for this team, and his contributions. But from a coaching standpoint, he was a clinic on tape.”

Thomas had also considered offers at Jacksonville State and Samford before determining he fit best at the private, small Christian school — the college’s website lists its enrollment as 2,065 — in Jefferson City, Tenn. There, he’ll try to continue the success he knew as a Cat.

“I want to get, No. 1, a great education,” he said. “And No. 2, just to become the best player I can on the football field.”

Summers may not have put on a helmet or pads in a while, but Dalton football players can thank him that theirs were in good working order the past two years.

As a freshman wide receiver and defensive back, he suffered a serious back injury, including two cracked vertebrae, that was the result of wear and tear from playing football and working out. Summers did his best to get back, going through eight months of rehab and a consultation with famed orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews of Birmingham, Ala.

With doctors advising that he risked paralysis if he continued playing, Summers hung up his cleats but remained on the team as a manager. As a sophomore, those duties included basic work such as setting up and collecting equipment, as well as making sure coolers were filled.

But when Land took over as coach in 2010, he saw the potential for Summers to take on increased responsibility and trusted him with jobs he might normally have handed over to coaches. Summers, whose title was director of player equipment, helped coordinate rehab schedules with the team’s certified athletic trainer, ordered equipment and supplies, and organized game video swaps with other teams.

That freed up coaches to simply coach when they might have been doing those chores, Land said.

“Caylor’s extremely responsible,” Land said. “ ... His maturity really allowed him to take on an excessive amount of responsibility that we wouldn’t normally give a player.”

Dalton held its preseason football camp at Jacksonville State each of the past two years, and Summers impressed the coaches there while acting as a liaison between the Cats and the school. Obviously, that paid off in much more than smooth camps for Dalton, with Gamecocks coaches pursuing Summers much as they would an on-field recruit, Land said.

Summers’ work at Dalton has also changed what Land is looking for as he fills that position.

“We’re actually taking some applications right now to find who his replacement is,” Land said. “Because it’s more than just sticking a kid in there and going, ‘Good luck.’ It’s going to be tough to replace him.”

Summers said his ultimate goal is to get a job with an NFL team, although he also has an interest in sports medicine. Regardless of what the future holds, he’s been much more than a water boy for the Cats — and he’s learned a lot from the job.

He still deals with pain from his injuries, and the emotional impact losing the chance to play football had was obvious even Wednesday as he talked about the situation, but he found a new purpose with the Cats.

“None of my teammates treated me bad,” Summers said. “I never got made fun of for being a manager, (even though) when people think manager, they think water boy. They treated me well and helped me whenever I needed help. The senior class is all really close — our whole football team is.”

While Summers found it hard to give up the sport, he never gave up being part of the team, a fact that Thomas echoed on Wednesday.

“His character is off the charts,” Thomas said. “He doesn’t get much credit for what he does, but this is big for him and I’m proud of him. He’s like a brother to me.”

Dalton High School Catamounts

Search Results

Related Photos

Discussion

Similar character, different paths take two Cats to college football

Site Map

Contact Us