BUFORD, Ga. — Four days before the biggest game of their lives, dozens of 6- and 7-year-olds wearing full pads and kelly green jerseys bounded onto a practice field in suburban Atlanta.
Under bright lights and a purple evening sky last fall, the members of the Buford Webb football team performed tackling drills and ran sprints. They reviewed in-the-weeds concepts such as how to fill a C-gap — all in preparation for the Gwinnett Football League championship game that Saturday. Winning would represent a proud achievement in sports-crazed Gwinnett County, where over 3,200 children ages 6-15, along with 850 volunteer coaches, took part in the GFL’s 2023 football season.
A growing body of evidence is pointing to the dangers of sustaining repetitive hits through contact sports. A recent Boston University study found that even young, amateur-level athletes could be at risk of developing chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease associated with repeated blows to the head. Those who played football and did so over many years were more likely to be diagnosed, the study found.
In Buford and Gwinnett County, parents, coaches and league administrators have acknowledged playing football comes with some risks. They’ve even attempted to mitigate them. But they’ve also determined the joys, rituals and opportunities that come with the game are worth preserving. It’s why football remains a thriving and cherished tradition in Buford, passed on to successive generations by the time kids reach elementary school.
A J McDonald participated in the GFL from ages 7-13 and works today as an attorney. Playing football caused him to experience headaches as a kid. In high school, he suffered his first of “probably three” concussions in his career. “You should see my helmets,” the former linebacker and fullback said.
Still, McDonald would have no reservations if his son, who was born in July, wanted to someday follow in his father’s footsteps.
“You’re out there, it’s like blood, sweat and tears,” McDonald said. “It’s a special bond — there’s nothing like a football bond. I’m friends with kids that I played with on my 8-year-old team. It’s just something different.”
‘Sports run the town’
Buford, a town of 16,800 residents located one hour north of Atlanta, excels at producing elite football talent, according to a Capital News Service analysis of rosters from the five most prominent college conferences.
During the 2023 season, 23 Power Five college football players were from Buford, the analysis found. They took the field for distinguished programs across the country — the University of Alabama, the University of Nebraska, Michigan State University and Stanford University, among them. In all, Buford produced more Power Five players than 12 states and Washington, D.C.
Buford’s success and reputation as a football town begins with a robust youth sports culture. With nearly 400 players, the Buford Youth Football Association is the largest of 20 Gwinnett County organizations that form the GFL.
Games and practices are held at the Buford Youth Sports Complex, which is set to undergo an estimated $1.5 million renovation this offseason to its lighting system and synthetic turf fields, according to Ken Burge, a third-generation Buford resident who serves as football director of the Buford Youth Football Association.
“You look around at all the buildings, look at the facilities — they believe in youth sports,” said Phillip Ely, who started Rise Flag Football, a Buford-based league, with his wife, Kallie. “They believe in sports, in general. Sports basically run the town.”
Buford and other GFL associations serve as a pipeline to the area’s high school programs, said Gerald “Boo” Mitchell, president of the GFL. Starting as young as 6 years old, players wear the colors, run the plays and learn the traditions of the high school teams.
In Buford, the youth program aims to cultivate the next wave of talent for Buford High School, a 14-time state champion whose accomplishments stand as a source of community pride.
“There’s a video they play before every high school football game,” Burge said. It depicts “when you’re a child laying in your bed at night dreaming of putting on the gold helmet for Buford. That’s where it starts, and we try to carry that.”
To many in Buford and the GFL, football is not just a sport. “I look at football as an opportunity to really build life skills … accountability, respect, team building,” said Buford Webb coach Markell Webb, whose 7-year-old son Micáias, played on the team in the 2023 season. They argue that football’s unique elements — the way players put on pads, play through adverse weather and hit each other — offer lessons that other sports can’t teach.
“If you can make it through football and play football, you can do anything in the world,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell said he’s encountered many who have built their careers based on their experiences in the GFL. Founded in 1981, the league counts several prominent NFL players as alums, including Bradley Roby, Alvin Kamara, and brothers Cameron and Connor Heyward. Others go on to become football trainers or coaches.
For McDonald, his youth and high school careers earned him a football scholarship to Appalachian State University. He later transferred to the University of Georgia, where his coach, Mark Richt, wrote him a letter of recommendation for law school. Football, McDonald said, “prepares you for life, and it opens doors.”
No more ‘smash-mouth’
Buford Webb called one of its final practices before the GFL championship “Competition Tuesday.” For much of the 90-minute session, shoulder pads and helmets clacked and thwacked as pint-sized players reviewed how to beat a double team or pursue a running back. “We missed too many tackles last week,” one coach lamented of the team’s performance in the GFL semifinals, a 19-0 victory over Norcross.
Mitchell said despite the hits, youth practices like Competition Tuesday look much different than they did in the past, part of the GFL’s attempts to make the sport safer. Full-contact practices are limited across the league to twice a week. Coaches who violate this rule are subject to suspensions and fines of $1,000 or more.
“We love to see how football used to be played … but you have to understand that the game has changed,” said Keybo Taylor, a former GFL coach who today serves as the sheriff of Gwinnett County. “These kids are bigger now. They’re faster now. These collisions are more violent. … I think it’s a good thing that at all levels, they’re doing things to protect these players.”
The GFL also regulates the kinds of collisions permitted on practice days, banning the violent, “smash-mouth” drills that were common in previous eras. For Buford Webb, Competition Tuesday featured a combination of live contact, as well as several lower-intensity drills with foam tackling dummies and wheels.
“Some of the drills you ran back in the day, you can’t do them anymore,” Webb said. “You’re not running kids from 20 yards back and slamming them through walls. … It’s a really controlled environment.”
But even as youth teams in Buford and the GFL try to mitigate the risks of football, there is also a perception that the dangers are overstated, especially for the youngest kids.
Burge questions the scrutiny placed on football, given that vicious collisions also take place in sports like lacrosse and soccer. Webb said the 6- and 7-year-olds he coaches are more likely to get injured from freak accidents on the field than from collisions. None of his players suffered a concussion or serious injury this season, he said.
“At this age, they don’t hit hard enough,” said Jimmy Williams, whose 7-year-old son, Christopher, played this season for Buford Webb. “It’s all fun. Most of the time, they’re walking bobbleheads.”
‘It never stops’
Buford Webb’s appearance in the GFL championship game was a momentous enough occasion that Dylan Raiola, star quarterback at Buford High School, showed up to the team’s practice to give a motivational speech.
Raiola isn’t the average high school standout — he is one of the top prospects in the country and has signed to play for the University of Nebraska. To the onlooking parents, Raiola’s appearance came with a clear message: A dozen more years of playing football in Buford, and this could be your kid.
“I just wanted to make sure that [the kids] knew that I was rooting for them and supporting them,” Raiola said, before signing autographs and posing for pictures.
Buford Webb won the GFL title a few days later, defeating Lawrenceville, 24-6. Despite rainy conditions and an 8 a.m. start time, Webb estimated that hundreds of Buford fans came to cheer on the team. Players received championship rings, celebrated at the local arcade and were featured in the Gwinnett Daily Post, the local newspaper.
“They feel like local celebrities,” Webb said.
The GFL is in its offseason, but football in Buford and Gwinnett County goes on. Parents pay for kids to work with private trainers. Children compete in all-star games and youth competitions throughout the winter and spring. Rise Flag Football serves as an outlet for hundreds of kids, many in the GFL, to hone their skills during the offseason, according to Kallie Ely.
“This is a 365-day-a-year football community,” Mitchell said. “It never stops.”