How Pearl-Cohn football player Willie Nelson went to skinny backup to senior leader.
Editor's note: The Tennessean is running a season-long, all-access series inside the Pearl-Cohn football program. "I listened to (him) a little bit growing up, because that's what my name is," Nelson said of the singer.
"But I haven't really listened to it much since then. "It's a cool relation to the country singer that was famous in Tennessee and the world."
MORE: Meet Santana Peterson-Warden, the inspiring Pearl-Cohn football senior leader for the Firebirds Doing so has helped the one-time backup step into a starting role and earn some looks from colleges.
And it all began with a Nerf football and a 3-foot pass from his father when he was 4 years old. "That's the first time I ever caught a football."
KEY POINTS
- How Pearl-Cohn football player Willie Nelson went to skinny backup to senior leader.
- Pearl-Cohn football senior safety Willie Nelson went from backup to leader to college prospect with hard work and commitment to the program.
- Willie Nelson the Pearl-Cohn football senior hasn't listened much to Willie Nelson the famous country singer and former Nashville-area resident .
- Willie Nelson, the Pearl-Cohn senior, listens more to Willie Nelson Sr., his father, as well as his Firebirds football coaches, who he referred to as "father figures" who talk with him about life beyond the field.