How Memphis signee Tevin Carter motivates PURE Academy football heading into third season
Wynston WilcoxPURE Academy doesn’t have the flashiest facilities. And the school doesn’t need them either.
What founder and football coach Melvin Cole sells to his players is more than the glitz and glamour of athletics. He sells them on a better life, better opportunity, a chance at college football and life after football.
When Cole fielded a football team amid Shelby County Schools canceling the 2020 season due to COVID-19, it was a chance to help bring his vision to fruition. Tevin Carter, who’s a freshman at Memphis, became the example for success after PURE.
With Carter graduated, the vision remains the same for Cole. And he doesn’t have to make the strongest pitch either. The incoming students see the results and are eager to be a part of PURE.
“It was trust,” said Benjermin Drake, a senior defensive back for PURE. “Seeing another black man building something from his own.
“When we were down here for the visit, you could tell he put his heart into it. And I respect that. If I see he can make it happen, I know I can too.”
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Drake, who has offers from Toledo and Ball State, moved to Memphis in May from Nashville.
He’s part of a senior class that has a chance to build on what Carter and the four other graduates-turned-college athletes paved the way for. Sadio Ba signed with Arkansas State, Kaleb Almo signed with UT Martin, Tyler Shaw signed with Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Terry Brown signed with Fort Valley.
“It just inspired me,” said senior Alpha Diallo. “Seeing your own brothers achieve their goals and sometimes their goals are your goals.”
Diallo and Drake tossed around the word “brotherhood” a few times each during practice.
Cole opened up residency for PURE students when he saw several were homeless or on the verge of homelessness when he would drop them off after school and tutoring was finished. He provided housing for the students, giving them a more established living environment with their peers.
“I think we have a brotherhood because we see each other every day, we live with each other,” Drake said. “It’s just a lot of accountability.”
Drake and Diallo are ready to follow in the footsteps of players who showed just how important PURE was to them.
“Tevin Carter’s leadership and work ethic is amazing,” Diallo said. “That inspired me the most because I was the young guy that was always around the older guys and me learning and taking a few tips from those big guys made me love the game even harder.”
Cole is confident PURE will continue to thrive and send its players to college. With what he’s been able to do since PURE’s inception, he doesn’t have to make a major sales pitch. He simply has to lay out the results of the work he’s put in.
He’s already excited about the future as he has a talented junior class on the rise and a few eighth graders already within his program.
With another tough schedule in the fall, the challenge becomes increasingly harder to win – PURE won just one game last season. But in Cole’s eyes, the wins aren't nearly as important.
What his players take away from PURE Academy is far more important than the win tally at the end of the season.
“That’s why I don’t necessarily want to get involved with the TSSAA and want to compete for a state championship because at the end of the day,” Cole said, “that’s not what it’s all about.”
“It’s about, are we sending these kids to college, fully prepared so they can be successful in life.”
Reach Wynston Wilcox at wwilcox@gannett.com and on Twitter @wynstonw__.