H.S. FOOTBALL: Peabody lineman fought odds to lead Tide line

TRENTON – Peabody senior lineman Raheem Overstreet sat down in the Golden Tide's film room earlier this week after a morning practice.

He was tired but happy to have practice.

"I'm glad to practice," Raheem said. "I love practicing."

Peabody head coach Ricky Woods said it's obvious Raheem loves to practice.

"Nobody has as much fun as he does getting out there and doing the work we do each week to get ready for games," Woods said. "And that makes the work even better for us as coaches knowing the kids are having fun."

Raheem said he enjoys practicing because it beats the alternative, which is not practicing. That's something he's dealt with the past three years.

Coming in from practice, Raheem's pants legs extended just below his knees. The two feet of skin not covered by clothing between his pants and socks revealed a series of scars just below the knee cap.

Those are the result of a series of surgeries Reheem has gone through over the past seven years.

"It's actually been 11," Raheem said when asked how many surgeries he's had. "I was born with a condition where my feet point inward. One foot was about halfway in, and the other was all the way in.

"My mother thought it was something I'd grow out of, but in fifth grade we finally went and saw a doctor about it."

Raheem wasn't in any pain as a child, and with the exception of a limp because one leg was longer than the other, nothing was out of the ordinary for him compared to his classmates.

The doctor prescribed a surgery for Raheem in which an external fixator would be installed.

"It was pretty much a rod sticking out of my leg to try to get it to straighten up over time," Raheem said. "It seemed to work for a while, but then my legs went back crooked."

Doctors repeated the surgery with the same result. Raheem's mother changed doctors and went to Nashville when Raheem was getting ready to begin seventh grade in which a plate was inserted into his knee joint. Again, it yielded a positive result, but it was only temporary.

Surgeons tried different procedures including rods, plates and even cutting Raheem's tibia bones to try to straighten his leg, but nothing worked.

Then two years ago, Raheem went to another doctor.

"I'm a big guy, and we went to a doctor that only treats big people in fixing legs," Raheem said. "They wanted to try something new, and that was put a plate on the inside of my knee."

And did that work?

"Bam! That fixed everything," Raheem said with a smile.

The surgery was traumatic for the joint and leg. It took Raheem well over a year to recuperate with physical therapy and wearing a walking boot. He was always around the football program at Peabody but could never stay healthy enough to consistently play between surgeries since his eighth-grade season.

Then he approached Peabody head coach Rickey Woods early last winter.

"I told him I wanted to play football, and he was OK with it as long as I could do it and stay healthy," Raheem said.

"The first thing we had to do was see if he could do squats. We had to see if he could bend the leg," Woods said.

Raheem could squat. Woods and the rest of the Golden Tide coaching staff pushed the lineman to continue to squat plus go home after practice and jump rope.

"At first it was 100 then 200 then 300," Raheem said. "Coach told me it would hurt, but it would be worth it because it would make my legs stronger, and I'd be able to play football.

"After about two weeks, I figured out it was working."

From there, Raheem continued to work. He worked on blocking technique. He improved his stance and his stamina. He committed the blocking schemes in the Golden Tide's playbook to memory. And the work has paid off.

As the Tide prepare to play in the Class 2A state semifinals, Raheem has seven plaques in 13 games as the top lineman of the game with the highest blocking grade.

"I wasn't sure if he'd ever be able to play when he came to me last year," Woods said. "But he's a leader on our line, and what he's been able to do shows the desire he had to get back out there and the work he put in to do it.

"To put it simply: He's an overachiever."

Looking ahead to this week, Raheem said he's OK if he's not the top blocker on the team.

"I don't want to be the best, because if I'm out there doing what I normally do when I give 100 percent effort and someone does better than me, then that means our line did a better job for the game," Raheem said. "I'm OK with that because I want to win.

"I've got enough blocking plaques. I want us to go get a trophy."

If the Golden Tide win this week against Adamsville, they'll play for the Class 2A state championship trophy next week.

Brandon Shields, 425-9751