DePriests in Big Easy for big game

Springfield grad playing for Alabama in BCS championship game.

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By David Jablonski, Staff Writer Updated 8:49 AM Monday, January 9, 2012

SPRINGFIELD — Angela DePriest cried the first time she saw her son Trey DePriest run onto the field as a freshman linebacker with the University of Alabama football team in September.

“It was just an amazing experience,” she said.

She knows her son, who graduated from Springfield High School early and left for college about a year ago at this time, will be more composed tonight when the Crimson Tide play LSU in the BCS championship game at the Superdome in New Orleans.

“I think he just gets into a zone where it doesn’t bother him,” Angela said. “He really doesn’t see anybody. He just sees the field, and that’s it. He just blocks everything else out.”

Angela, her mom Sue and five others — most of them with “DePriest 33” game jerseys packed — left Springfield on Friday to drive to New Orleans for tonight’s game.

It’s been a long season on the road for Angela. She went to all 12 regular-season games with various members of the family — even Trey’s 90-year-old great-grandma Ellen Schultz for three games — joining her each trip. On average, they drove 1,000 miles per trip, except for one game in Florida they flew to.

“At one point, we were looking forward to traveling every week,” Angela said, “and then it got to be, ‘Oh God, we’ve got to travel again.’ ”

DePriest, who isn’t allowed to speak to the media as a freshman, per head coach Nick Saban’s rules, finished the regular season with 23 tackles. He had 10 of those in the Sept. 3 season opener against Kent State when he was named Southeastern Conference Co-Freshman of the Week.

DePriest started all 12 games on special teams, was twice named Alabama’s specialist of the week and saw some action as a reserve linebacker behind Dont’a Hightower, a probable first-round pick in the NFL draft this year.

The DePriests arrived early for all the home games so they could be there when the team came down the Walk of Champions, a pathway lined with statues on the way to Bryant Denny Stadium. After games, they had four passes to go behind the gates to meet the players after they exited the locker room.

Trey wasn’t in the best mood after Alabama suffered its only loss, 9-6 to LSU on Nov. 5 in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

“He wasn’t happy at all,” Angela said. “But you have to take the good with the bad.”

As for the rematch, Angela is predicting victory, as any mom would. She’s amazed her son gets to experience the biggest game in his first season, and yet it was something Alabama assistant coach Sal Sunseri mentioned when Trey was being recruited.

“I told you, Angela, we were going to be in the national championship game,” Sunseri said after the final game of the regular season.

“Yeah, you did,” she said.

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0351 or David.Jablonski@coxinc.com.

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