GA football trio looking ahead after graduating from U.S. Naval Academy

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    Gwinnett County, GA (Gwinnett Daily Post ) — Kendel Wright’s high school, Mountain View, is roughly 20 miles from Greater Atlanta Christian, where Paul Carothers and Ford Higgins played football. Before those three entered the U.S. Naval Academy, that was their connection.

Their bond now goes way deeper than their home county.

The trio shared joy, excruciating heartbreak, physical and mental exhaustion and much more during their time at the Annapolis, Maryland, academy, where they were football teammates, classmates and close friends.

“You come to a lot of realizations, especially at a place like the Naval Academy,” said Wright, who started on Navy’s offensive line alongside Higgins. “You learn a lot about yourself real quick. Either you deal with that responsibility in a grown up kind of way and put your big boy pants on, or you cower down. There are tough days. You got beat up today, but you come back the next day. We leaned on each other throughout the whole time. I wouldn’t have made it through without Ford, Paul, all the guys at the Academy. You don’t realize coming in you’ll have these bonds. They all pay off. And we haven’t even seen the whole payoff yet.”

Every Midshipmen goes through the expected rigors of military life, the academic grind of a top-notch education and the expectations of NCAA FBS football, but unexpected challenges arise, too. For the Gwinnett players, their obstacles were gut-wrenching ones.

Back in February, their Navy teammate, David Forney, was found dead in his Bancroft Hall dorm room. The offensive lineman, a starter up front with Higgins and Wright, died of cardiac arrest. Sadly, it wasn’t their first time dealing with a painful loss during college.

In Nov. 2016, Carothers’ father Pat, a 26-year veteran of the U.S. Marshals Service, was shot and killed while executing an arrest warrant on a fugitive wanted for attempted murder of police officers, among other charges.

The news of his father’s death came to Carothers in Annapolis, and he leaned on his teammates after the tragedy. Some leaned back on him this year when Forney passed away.

“This dude sitting right here, Kenny (Wright), and others, whether it was a text or phone call, some men of many words and some of little words, I learned to appreciate anyone stepping out of their way (after my father’s death),” said Carothers, a linebacker during his Navy career. “They always had a heart for me and they pushed me, too. They’re both signs of love. They empathized with me, but they didn’t let me sit in my sorrow. … Even this year, dealing with the death of David Forney. I know Kenny was closest with David. I learned how to talk Kenny’s language a little bit. It isn’t saying much, just being around and showing you cared.

“I had a lot of brothers taking me where I had to go when I heard the news (about my father). Ford was the first person in tears with me. I shared tears with these dudes. How’s that? I’ve got no pride with them. I can share these things and not hold back.”

The journey was full of great memories, too. Among them was their final football game, a 31-7 victory over rival Army, and a 2019 season that saw them earn the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy in their annual competition with Army and Air Force.

They also loaded up on knowledge and leadership skills while training and studying alongside some of the country’s best and brightest.

“The biggest blessings to me are the stuff I learned there, whether it was leadership qualities or academics or learning a lot about yourself,” said Higgins, now 205 pounds, 57 pounds lighter than his heaviest playing weight last season. “And just being on the football field, all the things that carry forward in my life in the future, things I’m grateful for, thankful for. I’m looking forward to staying in touch with these guys. This bond lasts forever. It’s not a temporary thing we share with our teammates.

“To be able to have such a great influence from the coaching staff and the military personnel since we’ve been there. I look forward to one day looking back, whether I become a military officer, and say I’m able to influence my guys like that if I’m fortunate enough to lead. That place teaches you a lot.”

The COVID-19 pandemic also threw a unique wrinkle into the final months of their Naval Academy experience. Rather than finish on campus, the Navy football players took online classes as they scattered to homes around the country. For the local trio, that meant a return to Georgia.

They would have preferred Annapolis, though.

“We were on Spring Break when everything started getting out of hand, and schools started shutting down,” said Wright, now slimmed down to 245 pounds from his playing weight of 290. “Around March 15 when we had to be back, we started getting news that we were not coming back to school. We thought maybe two weeks at first, maybe a month. Nobody foresaw it getting to the point where it did and canceling graduation at the Naval Academy. That hasn’t happened since the ’20s.

“You come back from Spring Break at the Academy and it’s the home stretch. You’re getting ready to graduate, finishing up the classes you’re taking and everything fun is going on. Everything is starting to open up like spring time up north. All the yachts start coming out. It’s everybody’s dream to come back from Spring Break senior year.”

Unfortunately, they never came back until after graduation. The Naval Academy held five, small graduation ceremonies (to allow for social distancing) that brought them back to Annapolis. Carothers and Higgins graduated together in the fourth group, while Wright was in the final graduation group, which was treated to a surprise flyover by the Blue Angels at the May 20 ceremony.

“They did the best they could with what they had,” Carothers said. “I’m thankful to have a lot of alumni leadership at the Academy and that we were able to have a special moment in times like these. I think it was hard to get past that we wouldn’t be able to fulfill those traditions and hang out and laugh and reminisce and celebrate together about what we did that was very hard.

“But we also were grateful to even have that moment because a lot of colleges only had a virtual graduation. How thoughtful the Academy was for us, for our teammates, and the effort they put into a physical graduation was nice.”

Up next for the Gwinnett grads is a mandatory five-year military commitment with a possible longer career in the military ahead. Higgins and Wright will be commissioned into the U.S. Marines as second lieutenants, while Carothers will serve in the Navy. Before they go separate ways for military careers, all three will spend this year as football coaches.

Higgins will work on a master’s in leadership at the Naval Academy while working as an assistant coach in football. He will run the scout defense along with other duties needed by the staff. He expects to be in the coaches’ box during games, assuming the coronavirus permits a season. Wright also has a coaching job as he heads to Rhode Island, home of the U.S Naval Academy Prep School where his Navy career began. Carothers is back in Annapolis as inside linebackers coach for the Midshipmen’s sprint football team (for players 178 pounds and lighter).

Early in 2021, the former Gwinnett standouts go their separate ways. Higgins and Wright will follow similar paths initially as they train to be Marine officers, then they will be assigned elsewhere. Meanwhile, Carothers has his eye on a path in either intelligence or cryptological warfare.

When they part, they will draw on the memories of their friendship and their lessons from the Academy.

“It means more to be here with these dudes,” Carothers said. “These guys are a testament to what the Naval Academy can bring forth. They’re a testament to how their parents raised them, and they’re a testament to how God has used them the past four years in the Navy to lead and to be some of the best friends a person can ask for. It was all worth it. What does it mean to have a Naval Academy diploma? It doesn’t matter your GPA, the numerical values. You really look at these dudes and that’s what the Naval Academy is worth, the people there.”

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