ORLANDO, Fla.---
Inside Edgewater High School’s gym Cameron Duke writes “Tallahassee Godby” on a white board and blows his whistle.
“Alright lock in let me see eyes!” the Edgewater head coach yells.
“Today’s the major prep day for the three-time state champion Godby Cougars,” he says.
Duke expects, no demands a great practice.
“Iron sharpens iron. Let’s go sharpen each other right from the get go.”
Of course prep day is a little easier when you have Christian Leary at receiver.
“Dynamic extremely explosive with the ball in his hand,” Duke says of Leary back in his office. “But also a guy that does a lot away from ball with his perimeter blocking.”
Leary is one of the top recruits in the state of Florida. He’s enjoying the attention, but not letting it affect his work ethic.
“I’m still really hungry just knowing the hard work is really paying off,” Leary says. “It’s a reliever but I’m still pushing to get better.”
For Leary today’s about the prep, but Friday is about the performance.
Fast forward to game day. Duke is lining up his team after warm ups.
“You take pride every time you’re out here,” he yells as he blows the whistle.
The team marches to the goal line with their helmets held high. Leary is on the end. He knows some important people are watching this game.
“Let’s go!” a woman cheers from the crowd. On the back of her shirt is a Leary’s number six.
“It’s always a joy,” Semona Stafford says from the stands. “It makes me happy to see how well he does and how much he enjoys it and how dedicated he is.”
Semona Stafford is Christian’s proud mom. Next to her is Christian’s younger brother.
“Karter with a K 6 years old lot of people don’t know he has Down Syndrome,” Leary says. “But he’s just like a sidekick, my little buddy, my right hand man. Love him.”
Karter especially loves cheering after touchdowns. In the first quarter he gets to see a big one as Leary returns a punt return 56 yards for a score.
“Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!!!! Yea!” his mom yells as Leary darts up the sidelines. Karter claps and shakes his head with excitement.
“I love it, its amazing,” Leary says. “Just seeing him interact. Anytime I’m down I can play with him. He lifts me up.”
Christian needed that positive energy during a tough time this Summer.
“He was just like a best friend, every rep he wanted me to finish, be better than everyone on the team. He wanted me to be one step better,” Leary says remembering an old friend.
If you look closely you’ll see the letters LLC on Christian’s cleats. They stand for Long Live Curt, Leary’s former coach Curtis Killings who was murdered in August.
“I took it hard. It was actually really hard,” Leary says. “He was my 8th grade coach. He used to call me after every game. I know it’s not going to be the same. He’s still at every game just watching me.”
“I’ve never seen anything affect him in that way,” Stafford says. “He was very distraught hurt. I see now that he channels that hurt into doing more on the field and academically just in honor of him.”
Leary stays strong for Curt, Karter and any other kids that might look up to him. His Edgewater Eagles beat Godby 48-7 that night. On Sunday morning it’s just him and Karter on the couch. Karter likes to go through the recruiting mail.
“Stanford, Indiana,” Leary says as he flips through all the mail he gets from teams. Karter does his best to say Indiana.
“Just knowing that they can look up to someone that’s positive,” Leary says. “I try to stay on the right track so they will have something to look up to. So that’s a big motivation to keep on your shoulders.”
Leary gets to the last recruiting pamphlet and reads, “Pitt.”
Karter repeats it back to him “Pitt.”
“Yeah you must like Pitt,” Leary laughs lovingly. “That’s the only one you can say.”