EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second in an 8-part series highlighting the elite football players in the area who encompass leadership, athleticism and game-changing ability for their teams in 2017.
The players are taken from the rosters of high school teams in The Star-Herald coverage area and are nominated by their coaches. Sports editor Stan Beall makes the selections.
The players will be revealed one at a time over an 8-week period and are in no particular order. Previously selected was Kosciusko’s Kadarius Banks.
Attitude is what sets some athletes apart from others and Ethel Tiger senior linebacker Ty’Kevin Wade is a prime example, according to Ethel head football coach Hogan Briscoe. “You can count on him to do the right thing and to have the right attitude in a big game situation or an intense moment during the game. You know that he’s going to be the one that the rest of the guys kind of huddle around and look up to. He will be that guy and in a class with only two seniors, that’s going to be a big deal for us.”
Wade stands 5-11 and weighs in at 210 pounds and looks forward to the 2017 season with the Tiger football team. He enjoys working out and getting ready for the season and talks of his other passion, which is basketball. Music and hanging out with his friends are just two of the things he enjoys doing during his down time and his favorite college is Louisiana State University.
“I was really glad to be selected as an Elite 8 team member and told everybody before I did this interview,” said Wade. “I’ve been working hard trying to stay conditioned and the coach has been staying on me, too. I lift harder than I did last year and I am stronger than I was because I want us to have a winning season and make it into the playoffs.”
Wade has set other goals for himself this year with two being to have nearly 100 tackles and to be able to blitz more. “I feel like I can get back there more this year than I did last year and just want to make more tackles behind the line of scrimmage. I am really looking forward to playing McAdams this year because they are our rival and they beat us last year.”
According to Briscoe, Wade is not the type of linebacker that is going to sit back and let it come to him. “He’s not going to sit back and sit still,” said Briscoe. “He’s coming full speed and he’s smart enough on the football field where I can come to him and say, ‘Do this or do that,’ and make in-game adjustments and it won’t throw him off. He picks up on stuff really quickly, and he is a smart, smart football player with a nose for the football; we are looking for big things out of him this year.”
When asked what else besides football that he likes to do other than hanging out with friends and such Ward replied that he enjoyed helping his uncle build his grandmother’s house. When asked what he liked most about that job Wade calmly replied, “Nailing stuff.” Wade is a young man of few words, but there is no doubt that he loves football and loves to hit opposing players who try to hit the hole near him. “I’m really looking forward to this season and can’t wait to hit some running backs.”
Wade is not the smash-mouth, in-your-face, whooping and hollering type of guy according to Briscoe, but he will show flashes of that. “He’s the guy that when it’s third and two he will go stick his nose in there and show the everybody else what they need to be doing,” concluded Briscoe. “He is going to lead by example a lot more than he will lead verbally and that is one attribute that I like in particular about T-Wade. He’s going to be the one, whether the chips are down or whether everything is going good he will be the one to stick his nose in there for us.”
