East’s Gossett fights through adversity

“Sophomore year I was going to have a lot of playing time, but I broke my elbow and had to have surgery so wasn’t able to play a lot that year,” Gossett said. “Then, they moved me to defense junior year but moved me back to offense senior year. Running back was my favorite position, but I almost never got to play it because I was injured most of the time I would’ve had a chance.”

When Gossett got the news that his football season was over, there was just one thing on his mind.

Baseball season.

Gossett led the ‘Canes in 2019 with a .356 batting average and was looking forward to his final year and possibly giving himself a chance to play in college. Now, that was in jeopardy as Gossett sat in the doctor’s office.

“My first question was will I be back for baseball,” Gossett said. “They said that it should be a month into baseball before I could get back. But then I said that I wanted to be back for the first game, so they kind of rushed me a bit but I made it back. But then all of this happened.”

Through hard work, determination and a difficult rehab process, Gossett accomplished his goal, starting for the Hurricanes in their first game of the year against David Crockett. Gossett played in the majority of East’s games to start the season and picked up where he had left off last year.

But, as with football season, life took yet another turn for Gossett.

After a successful weekend for East, taking down Alcoa before losing by just a run to a very talented Heritage team, the TSSAA announced the suspension of all spring sports due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Any chance of possibly resuming the season was put to bed on April 15 when spring sports were officially cancelled.

For Gossett, he has about as good of an attitude as possible considering the circumstances.

“I kind of had hope that we would come back for a little bit,” Gossett said. “It sucks, but you just have to live up to adversity and get ready for college if I play.”

Gossett was one of seven seniors on the Morristown East baseball team, a group that had played together since they were little. East’s coach Matt Ford said that he believed this team could’ve done special things with such a veteran group.

“They were always my teammates, and we were already used to each other, so it was so much fun,” Gossett said. “It was a brotherhood. It was like a family.”

To make matters even more difficult for Gossett, his shortened senior season did no favors for his chance to play baseball at the collegiate level.

However, a possible summer workout and hope has kept Gossett on the grind during this quarantine.

“I was thinking the other day that now I can get in more shape and get ready for those workouts to try and prove that I am good enough to play,” Gossett said. “I just have to get ready, get more in shape and prove myself.”

Gossett said that he has been mowing grass, lifting weights and running to stay in shape.

There has been one saving grace for Gossett’s senior season, though. On Tuesday, April 21, dates were announced for graduation and prom for Morristown East and Morristown West high schools in late July.

For Gossett and the other seniors, it is a chance to have a sense of normalcy during this trying time.

“It means a lot that I actually get to walk across stage, my family will get to see me and to kind of celebrate graduation with my friends,” Gossett said. “And it means a lot to have prom too with my girlfriend because we already had plans for it before it was cancelled. I am very excited to have both graduation and prom.”