Written by Abby J Kellett
“Most kids grow up playing all their lives,” Nick Folds,Harding Academyassistant football coach, said. “Josh didn’t start playing competitive football until his freshman year of high school, and he didn’t even start quarterbacking till his junior year.”
Before getting invited to play for Harding, Powell played for several junior colleges whose environments were less than ideal, he said.
“I went to a JuCo (junior college) and it was real rough, like a lot of gang members and stuff, so I kinda wanted to get to a place I knew would be better,” Josh Powell said. “I just wanted to get away from all that kind of stuff.”
Though Powell was raised in a Christian home, playing inside the Harding bubble was a little different than he expected.
“It was a little bit of a culture shock,” Powell said. “Something that took awhile to get used to is the fact that they incorporate God so much into the team, like with prayer, and Coach Huck (Ronnie Huckeba) is always talking about honoring God, and that was pretty different, but I think it brings the team together more than any other team I’ve ever been with.”
Coming into a different environment, Powell was faced with an even greater challenge during the season in 2008.
“My dad just got back from Iraq,” Powell said. “He was gone for about a year, but before that I didn’t see him for six months so before this last weekend I hadn’t seen him for a year and seven or eight months.”
Powell’s father was able to attend the first game of this season to watch Josh and his younger brother Taylor play.
“He hadn’t seen me play since high school and he was pretty pumped up,” Powell said. “I could hear him yelling from the sidelines; it was a little embarrassing. But seriously, I was more nervous to play in front of him than in front of anybody else.”
Considering Powell’s recent injury, it is a blessing his father got to see him play at all. During practice drills this summer, Powell tore his ACL for the second time in his career. Instead of going to the emergency room, however, Powell made the decision to walk it off, enter therapy and continue to play on it with the help of a brace.
On top of everything else, Powell’s older brother will be leaving for Iraq within the month.
“Despite all Josh has been through, he’s remained a strong leader and his love of the game is evident in all he does,” Folds said.
Powell remains focused on his grades and the season ahead of him.
“I know I love the position, and playing football, it’s what I want to do,” Powell said. “We definitely have a lot of talent; we’re just a couple steps away from being a really great team.”
