Greenwood High School senior Jorden Gatewood will be the first to admit playing for his father, Clinton Gatewood, can be challenging at times.
“There is a lot of pressure, but that comes from the people around me,” said the younger Gatewood. “He encourages me to do the best in everything I do. He drives me a lot and makes me want to go harder, but he does that with all the players. I’ve learned that you have to be mentally tough to play for him. He’s tough on you, but we all know he loves us.
“We have a father-son relationship when we get home. It’s not a coach-player relationship. We both try to leave that at the field. I’ve basically been playing for my dad since I was 4 years old. I believe in him as a head coach. He keeps all of us motivated. He’s there for each one of us.”
Gatewood is a 5-foot-11, 250-pound center for the Bulldogs. He started at the position last season as Greenwood only went 3-6 overall and missed the playoffs for the first time in Coach Gatewood’s 11 seasons on the job.
The 2020 season was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“That was very discouraging to have the season canceled,” said Gatewood. “We couldn’t come together at all, so I worked out on my own. Last season, we were way behind when we got started. It was discouraging as well because we had a lot of freshmen and sophomores who were still learning the game.
“I feel like we are going to be back on track this season. The motivation and drive are there to be better. We have different leaders, and the sophomores from last year are now juniors, and they have the experience to help us out this season.”
Gatewood knows there are things he needs to work on before the season starts.
“I’ve got to get stronger in the weight room and work harder on my run blocking,” Gatewood said. “I need to work on being more of a dog out there.”
Gatewood feels with four returning starters on the offensive line that it could be one of the team’s strong points. Also, Brandon Davis has returned to the team as the offensive line coach.
“Watching Jorden grow from the peewee league to now has been amazing to see,” said Clinton Gatewood. “He is a very responsible young man, and he takes on a leadership role with his teammates. He was a little boy when I first started as head coach. Every coach with a child dreams of coaching his child. I am proud of my son for the man he is becoming.
“The expectations and pressures have been on Jorden as my son. I told him that if he decided not to play football I wouldn’t be mad at him. I’d still be very proud of him.”
Jorden Gatewood, who will carry a 3.75 grade point average into his senior season, said he hasn’t given much thought to playing on the next level, but he would like to major in business and go into real estate. He has already scored a 25 on his ACT. “I want to keep on building and give back to the community and do charity work to help others,” he said.
Greenwood will play its season opener on Aug. 27 at 7 p.m. at Bulldog Stadium against Holmes County Central.
-Contact Calvin Stevens at 662-581-7234 or cstevens@gwcommonwealth.com.
