David Cooper didn’t have much of a choice.

Carson Walter was supposed to start at safety, of course. The rising junior was coming off of a season with 100 tackles. But then he broke his tibia and fibula.

Cooper had heard about the play of a middle-schooler who was about to join his team. He had to put his trust in him.

“So I introduced Cole Bishop as my starting safety, a little skinny freshman,” Cooper said. “I mean, he couldn't have been 150 pounds, 160 pounds, but he played hard, and that's all that matters.”

Bishop ended up a four-year starter at Starr’s Mill High School, about an hour south of Atlanta. Cooper, now the head coach of the team, was Bishop’s position coach at the time. He saw Bishop’s journey, from Georgia to Utah and now to Buffalo.

“He probably got embarrassed more

See Full Page