Pettway on what could have been.

[aubiefifty 16,774]

sports.usatoday.com

Kamryn Pettway, now a coach at Park Crossing, still thinks about what could have been at Auburn

Associated Press

7-9 minutes

Kamryn Pettway admits that the thought has crossed his mind several times.

There is a world in which he is still at Auburn. The Montgomery native still had a year of eligibility remaining when he announced via Instagram on Jan. 3 of this year that he would enter the NFL draft.

Could the one-time standout running back have come back to school for his senior season? Would he be the focal point of the Tigers’ rushing attack right now? How might that have affected his draft stock in 2019?

Pettway tries not to think about it.

“I know I can’t dwell on the past,” he told the Montgomery Advertiser this week. “I just got to keep building toward the future.”

Kamryn Pettway, former Auburn running back, runs drills as he coaches at Park Crossing High School in Montgomery, Ala., on Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2018.

On Wednesday, that future is taking place 50 miles west of Jordan-Hare Stadium on the practice field at Park Crossing High School in Montgomery. A few late-arriving players are still trickling out of the locker room before the start of that afternoon’s practice. Lil Baby’s “Cash” is blaring from a speaker set up on the track.

Pettway, the first-year running backs coach for the Thunderbirds, is set up in the far corner of the north end zone, football in hand, five pads set up on the ground and a group of high schoolers watching his every move.

He runs through the various drills first — one foot in each hole, shuffle and switch, spring and backpedal, etc. — then watches intently as each player follows behind him.

“It has been something new for me, but it’s something I’ve always wanted to (do) since I was younger, was to be a coach and help give back to others,” Pettway said. “I feel like I can relate to a lot of the guys, especially the running backs.”

Pettway briefly latched on in the NFL following his Auburn career, but in his words, he was “unprepared.” He signed with the Minnesota Vikings as an undrafted free agent on April 28, but was waived following the team’s rookie minicamp on May 7.

He got an opportunity with the Columbus Lions of the National Arena League in July, but played in only one game. He rushed three times for 13 yards and a touchdown.

When neither opportunity worked out, Pettway called Angelo Wheeler, who was his coach for his last two seasons at Capitol Heights Middle School and only two seasons at Lanier High. Pettway transferred to Prattville for the final two seasons of his prep career, but as Wheeler tells all of his players: “I’m their coach for life.”

Wheeler, who took over as Park Crossing’s head coach in May, brought his former player in to be his running backs coach. Pettway, who graduated from Auburn in the spring, also teaches psychology and career preparation full time.

“Kamryn is like a son to me," Wheeler said. "I knew where his heart was, and I know he really had desires and dreams to go to the next level, where he has the ability to play. The opportunity just has to be presented to him.

"But to have a kid you’ve had an opportunity to influence his whole life, not only to bring him into the coaching business and show him the coaching side of it — hopefully one day he can be my replacement.”

Kamryn Pettway, former Auburn running back, stretches out with players at Park Crossing High School in Montgomery, Ala., on Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2018. Pettway joined his former coach Angelo Wheeler, head coach at Park Crossing, after a failed attempt at making a NFL roster.

Pettway arrived at Park Crossing with no official coaching experience, but he wasn’t entirely unfamiliar. Any time he was hurt during his career at Auburn, running backs coach Tim Horton would have Pettway right next to him during practice.

The two still talk every other week, if not weekly.

And what Pettway lacks in experience, he makes up for with his ability to relate to players. Whereas Wheeler is 42 years old and more than 20 years removed from his high school and college days, Pettway was where his players are now just five years ago. Any one of them could have turned on the TV during parts of the 2016 and 2017 seasons and watched their coach run for the Tigers.

“He’s got a lot that he can tell you and teach you on and help you on. You just got to listen, because he’s been through it before and he knows what he’s doing,” sophomore running back Adaryll Lewis said. “He’s been coached by coach Wheeler, too, so he can relate to everything. He knows what we’re going through. We can talk to him, tell him about anything.

“I look at it as a blessing. It’s not many times you’re going to get something like that. So I try to make the best of it and take everything in.”

Pettway doesn’t talk much about the way his career at Auburn ended, other than to call 2017 his “downfall year.”

The 6-foot, 235-pound bruiser was a breakout star in 2016, coming almost out of nowhere to rush 209 times for 1,224 yards and seven touchdowns in just 10 games. He entered the 2017 campaign with stated goals of eclipsing Tre Mason’s single-season program rushing record.

Instead, Pettway carried just 76 times for 305 yards and six touchdowns over five games. His junior season started with a one-game suspension and ended when he suffered a fractured shoulder blade Oct. 21, 2017, at Arkansas.

Auburn running back Kamryn Pettway (36) rushes for a touchdown against Arkansas on Oct. 21, 2017, in Fayetteville, Ark.

That was the last game Pettway played in an Auburn uniform. He didn’t travel with the team to the Peach Bowl in Atlanta after head coach Gus Malzahn said the running back decided to stay back with his family — wife Natonya and young daughter Kaisley.

“I appreciate Kam Pettway's time at Auburn," Malzahn said in a statement when Pettway declared for the NFL draft. "When healthy, he was a dominant running back. We'll be rooting for him moving forward and wish him nothing but the best."

There was a report that Pettway was barred from team activities during the week leading up to the Peach Bowl, but Auburn officials told the Montgomery Advertiser at the time that it was “not accurate.” An AFC regional scout said before the NFL draft in April that the running back was “a mess” and had “too many character flags to get drafted.”

"I've never had a problem with that with him,” Horton said in response to those criticisms. “His was just such an unfortunate deal with the injuries. All I can talk about and deal with was my situation with him and it's always been great. I have no problems with his character.”

Again, Pettway tries not to dwell on all that. He hasn’t given up on his playing career, either. He works out with the running backs he coaches every day. He still has an agent, and he said some teams have kept tabs on him in case there’s an injury or a spot opens up.

If the NFL doesn’t work out, the eight-team Alliance of American Football starts its season on Feb. 9, and Pettway said he has already spoken to a few teams. The Birmingham Iron will play just an hour or so north on I-65.

Until then, he's trying to live out another dream.

“I’m still working to get back to the NFL, but I can help other guys, too,” Pettway said. “I try to instill in them, ‘Always work hard.’ I know where they’re trying to go, so they kind of look up to me — older guy from the same city who went to college and did this and had an opportunity with the NFL. I try to let that be a stepping stone for them.”

 

dang montgomery advertiser wanted me to pay so i googled the article title and it seems it was on usa today free.

[theweegler 81]

Thanks for the post. KP didn’t say much at all about what happened during any of this. I know there were several rumors floating around and they were all not so good. But it just blows me away that he left so unprepared. Very hard to understand. 

[gulftiger66 166]

Pettway, Dyer, and many more.  What could have been.  It makes me sad thinking of the wasted opportunities.  Young guys make stupid decisions some time though.  

[aujeff11 6,243]

1 hour ago, aubiefifty said:

Pettway doesn’t talk much about the way his career at Auburn ended, other than to call 2017 his “downfall year.”

I read this this article hoping to read more of this. What a disappointment. 

[gr82b4au 5,568]

20 minutes ago, aujeff11 said:

I read this this article hoping to read more of this. What a disappointment. 

He’s not going to say anything and the coaches are not going to talk bad about him. 

[JDUBB4AU 5,116]

Kam felt he made the best decision for himself . Time will tell . Good luck to him 

[aujeff11 6,243]

8 minutes ago, gr82b4au said:

He’s not going to say anything and the coaches are not going to talk bad about him. 

Yeah, I see that.  

[NoALtiger 3,857]

He has the rest of his life to get in to coaching. He really should have come back for one more year. Good luck to him though. 

[bigbird 60,513]

7 minutes ago, JDUBB4AU said:

Kam felt he made the best decision for himself . Time will tell . Good luck to him 

Kam didn't have many choices to choose from.

[aujeff11 6,243]

2 hours ago, aubiefifty said:

Any time he was hurt during his career at Auburn, running backs coach Tim Horton would have Pettway right next to him during practice.

 The two still talk every other week, if not weekly.

This right here tells me he left Auburn on the up n up at least. 

[sevenlee36 1,654]

Was one of my favorite running backs to watch play. The dude was a bull.

[triangletiger 1,599]

Things could have gone better with his career as a football player, but it sounds like he’s doing alright.  Things could certainly be a lot worse.

[Guest zack]

On 10/30/2018 at 5:20 AM, triangletiger said:

Things could have gone better with his career as a football player, but it sounds like he’s doing alright.  Things could certainly be a lot worse.

Agree.

[AU-24 3,071]

On 10/29/2018 at 9:03 PM, gr82b4au said:

He’s not going to say anything and the coaches are not going to talk bad about him. 

Coaches are not going to say anything bad about him or his parents.

So proud and happy he finished his degree!