By Angie Ledbetter

There is more to Josh Garrott than meets the eye.

The All-District strong safety for 2006 spends his summer on the mission field of Honduras.

For someone who has not played football but one year, Josh Garrott, a senior at North Delta School, loves the sport. He puts his heart and soul into the game and has done well.

But it was helping the people in Honduras that he says changed his life.

“The thing that has changed me the most about going to Honduras was when I was nine years old, I was real picky about what my mom picked out for me to wear to school,” he said. “That was something that she did for us when we were kids. Once I went to Honduras for the first time, I didn’t care what she picked out for me to wear. I was just glad I had some clothes to put on to wear to school.

“It has changed my life for the best obviously,” Garrott continued. “I get to go and help people with whatever task they ask you to do. I try to do it with the same intensity that I do it here. I enjoy that as much as anything else.”

Garrott transferred to North Delta last year from South Panola but he did not play football  there.

“It wasn’t hard for me to come to North Delta,” said Garrott. “I had pretty much been friends with all of them since I was little, so it was  easy to jump in and go with the flow. My classes are fine. I have great teachers and no trouble. I am enjoying it. The switch was very, very, easy for me.”

He proudly wears the No. 9 Green Wave jersey and takes his position as a senior and a player very seriously.

“There is kind of a rule that is understood as a senior, you’re supposed to step up and be a leader,” he said. “I try my best to help lift up my team members and lift up other seniors as well.”

As for if he sees himself as a leader, Garrott said that opinion rests with the team.

“I try my best to do what is asked of me,” Garrott said. “I try my best to set an example at all times and encourage my teammates.”

Garrott said he expects the other players to do whatever they can do and the least he expects is for them to give 100 percent of themselves.

“I love football in just the fact that you work as a team,” said Garrott. “You’ve got three guys out there helping you with everything you do, to guide you and to help you get the job done.”

Garrott said that he came to North Delta the same time as head coach Richard Russo.

“I am attached to him as any player would be,” he said. “I love the guy. I love the way that he handles it. The best thing that I love is that he’s gotten God into the actual athletic department as well.”

To aid him in his high school football career, Garrott attended the Manning football camp last summer in Louisiana.

“It was a Christmas gift from my grandparents and I really enjoyed it,” he said “There were a lot of football players there from schools everywhere. I got to meet people like John Elway and his son, which was nice.”

Garrott said as far as the Green Wave team, he expects them to get better.

“One thing I like about this team is that whenever one of us slacks, the team can pick each other up and keep going,” Garrott said. “Last year’s team, no offense to them, seemed instead of one team being on the field, it was half the team with a couple of individuals.

“My goal is to make sure that we are one team on the field, something we lacked last year,” Garrott continued. “We had individuality, which is good up to a point, but when you get a football team, it needs to be one group of people out there instead of actual individuals.”

Garrott is pleased with the schedule for the upcoming season.

“It’s going to be a fun season,” he said. “Obviously, we are going to have some challenges along the way, but I think we can take them and turn them into something good, learn from them, and continue to get better as the season progresses.”

Garrott takes losing a game as a step to getting better and uses that to help him climb the ladder of success.

“Right after I got hired, Josh was one of the first people that came to me and said they wanted to be a part of Green Wave football,” Russo said. “What a blessing and a pleasure it was to have him come to my doorstep like that. He is a very intelligent young man, a very coachable young man, and his motor is always going.

“He will do anything you ask of him and that makes coaches extremely happy,” Russo continued.

Russo said Garrott leads with actions, not only with words.

“What amazes me is that he never played high school football before and he got in there and was so coachable that after one season, he made All-District strong safety,” Russo bragged. “We are very proud of Josh and his progressiveness. We are looking forward to big things from him his senior year.”

Garrott said he loves his family and that is obvious. His parents are Dr. Andy and Sue Garrott of Batesville. He has an older sister and brother. He also is very proud to be the uncle of an eight-month-old niece he loves very much. He attends First United Methodist Church and is involved in missionary work in Honduras with his father.

“We get a couple of people from Batesville to go, and some from Texas,” Garrott said. “We meet up with a different team down there and hang out with them and do whatever work we can do. The first year that I went, I helped my dad in the dentist department, cleaning instruments. This past year, I did the same thing. I’ve helped with recreation and helped in pharmacy. I’ve worked all around the actual clinic where we are starting to work at.”

Garrott was nine years old the first year that he went to Honduras with his family. It was a family thing at one time with his parents, his sister, his brother and him. In a three year spree all of them went and Garrott thought that was pretty amazing.

This summer when he goes in July, he will be the only one from his family who will go with his father. Garrott is the only one in the family with perfect attendance with his dad this year making his ninth year straight.

His mom gets sick when she goes. His sister had a baby, and his brother has summer school. Garrott is looking forward to it this summer and also to the upcoming North Delta football season.

Garrott 2006 Stats
All-District Strong Safety
Offense
12 receptions
198 yards
1 receiving touchdown

Defense
79  total tackles
1 sack
5 interceptions
1 fumble recovery
9 pass deflections