On Wednesday, students and staff at Athens High School gathered in the gymnasium to celebrate alumnus Quez Watkins heading off to the super bowl.

“We had fourth down and five yards to go, and we had one play to score against Decatur. We called a time out and I get Quez and the offense away from the other coach because I’m about to draw something in the dirt and they’re not going to let me do it,” Coach Mike Young said. “We draw a play, I put 10 people in front of Quez to block, and snap it to Quez and he got to score.”

Young described hearing the other coaches yelling that they couldn’t do it as he broke the huddle.

“I looked at Quez and said, ‘If you want me to coach next week then score,’” Young said.

Young knew Watkins could make the win happen.

“If you put the ball in the hands of the best player on the field, everything will work out,” Young said.

Paige Hicks taught Watkins in 10th and 11th grade.

“He has never let anything stand in his way no matter what people have said about his chances of making it; he doesn’t care, he worked his tail off to get where he is … even I had a tear in my eye the day he got drafted,” Hicks said.

Stacie Willoughy spoke on Watkins’ growth throughout his time at Athens and how he serves as an inspiration for current students.

“If I could talk to him right now, I would tell him thank you because he’s such an inspiration … because when I have students that say ‘this is hard, I can’t do it,’ I can say ‘yes you can because you know Quez Watkins, he played in the Super Bowl because he didn’t give up,’” Willoughy said.

Coach Cody Gross reminded attendees of Watkins continued support of the Athens community.

“He has not forgotten where he came from,” Gross said in reference to Watkins’ free youth camp. “He represents Athens in a very very special way.”