Christian’s nephew, D.J., had
played football there, so she
and Karan often went to see his
games. Karan was just 13 years
old when Riverview coach
John Sprague approached him
and Christian to talk about his
future.
Sprague
had
followed
Karan through Pop Warner,
and wanted him to come join
the Rams.
“Send him to Riverview,
Sam,” Sprague had said. “We’ll
take good care of him.”
Riverview always had a
great football program, and
its coaches knew how to
get their players ready for
the next level. They helped
players put together film for
recruiting and did everything
in their power to get players
recognized by colleges.
Karan was the kind of
running
back
Riverview
needed, and Riverview was
the kind of school where he
could thrive. The coaches
there, as Christian learned,
cared more about their players
than just their football talent.
“Everyone in the community
knew, if you wanted your child
to get a football scholarship,
you need to send your child
to Riverview High School,”
Christian said.
Despite
being
pursued
by almost every school in
the area, Karan enrolled at
Riverview.
The other schools didn’t
stand a chance. They didn’t
know
Karan.
They
just
knew
him
as
a
football
player, and that’s all they
cared about. Manatee High
School, which won the 2011
State Championship, heavily
recruited him. It seemed like
all the aspiring football players
wanted to go to Manatee, and
Karan had the offer waiting.
But he wasn’t interested,
according
to
his
mother,
because what Manatee cared
about
most
was
putting
another kid on a roster to
try and win a championship.
Karan’s academic and career
goals couldn’t take a back
seat. His dreams of being an
orthopedic
surgeon
would
get blanketed by all the
pressure to put football first.
That wasn’t what Karan
wanted — Karan wanted to
prioritize his education.
At Riverview, Karan and
Christian knew they had
that opportunity.
Even
when
Sprague
retired from his longtime
head-coaching job, where he
had been for three decades,
the plans never changed.
Sprague stepped down
in March of Karan’s eighth
grade year. He wouldn’t
be
on
the
sideline
to
coach Karan through high
school, like he had done
successfully for so many
players, but Christian knew
their decision was still
the right one. Sprague’s
replacement,
after
all,
wanted the same thing for
Karan as she did.
***
Over that span, as Karan
moved
through
middle
school, Todd Johnson was
finishing up his NFL career.
After his fourth season
with the Bears, he signed
a four-year contract with
the St. Louis Rams. He had
29 tackles in 2007, and 23
the next season as a backup
safety. The Rams waived
him from the roster in 2009
and, after a short stint in
Buffalo, he returned home
permanently to Sarasota.
Moving
back
meant
Johnson would be much
closer to Riverview High
School, where he graduated
from in 1998. As a kid, he
dreamed of playing for the
Riverview Rams, so when
he went away to college
and the NFL, he always
made sure to come back to
his roots. He’d work out
with Riverview players in
his offseasons and stayed
connected with his former
coach, Sprague, who had
been with the school since
1981.
Unfortunately,
Johnson
saw the same challenges
that Samantha Christian
had seen. He noticed them
before he left Sarasota. He
noticed them when he came
back.
“I saw a ton of kids that
were talented and gifted
that could go on and do
great things but didn’t make
good decisions, made poor
choices and therefore lost
out on moving on,” Johnson
said.
Whether it was falling
behind in grades or getting
in
trouble
with
the
law,
it seemed that every year
another great football player
could do everything on the
field, but did something wrong
off it.
So when the opportunity
opened up to get more involved
at Riverview, Johnson threw
his hat in the ring.
And
in
April
of
2011,
Riverview named Johnson its
new head coach. Johnson’s
NFL career hadn’t been over
for even two years before
he was right back in the
mix at the place where it all
started for him. In his first
press conference, he spoke
about how important it was
to mentor every individual,
giving
them
the
positive
environment
they needed
to
be
successful.
He wasn’t
taking
this
job
just
to
win football
games on his
old stomping
ground.
He
took
it
for
the chance to
give back.
As
the
summer went on and Johnson
transitioned
into
his
new
job, more schools continued
pursuing Karan. He was a
popular, likeable and sought-
after football player, and the
cutthroat Florida high school
competition wanted to seize
him up.
Eventually
Johnson
approached Karan. Rumors
of more schools’ interests
had circulated around, and
Johnson wanted to check in,
so he asked Karan what was
going on.
“Coach, I’m a Ram from
now until forever,” Higdon
told him. “I will never leave
here. I started here, and this is
where I’m gonna finish.
“I told you that I’d be here
for four years, and that’s not
going to change no matter
what.”
Nothing
waivered
for
Karan. When other schools
wanted to talk, Karan had
none of it. He had given his
coach his word, and stuck by
his decision.
So Karan was committed,
Pee Wee football was long gone
and Pop Warner had passed.
He was the star in those
leagues, but if Karan wanted
to succeed —
which
he
so
badly did — he’d
have to be the
star
in
high
school.
“Listen
here,
son,”
Christian once
told him. “You
are
going
to
have a hundred
Karan Higdons
in high school.
The
level
of
competition,
that
bar
has
been raised now. You are really
going to have to fight and show
what you can do.”
Just as she predicted, high
school brought about new
challenges. Karan hadn’t been
big on weightlifting, but in
middle school football, that
didn’t matter. He was so fast
and naturally big that he could
bulldoze through everyone
he played against. But against
bigger
and
stronger
high
school players, that wouldn’t
be the case.
His
natural
talent
was
enough to put him on varsity,
but it was in the weight room
where he began to really learn.
“There comes a point where
you got to grow,” Karan said.
“You’ve got to learn how to
perfect your craft, and I knew
that there was going to come a
point in time where some guys
I’m going to have to make miss
and some guys I’m going to
have to run through.”
High school was that point
for him. Johnson and the rest
of Riverview’s staff worked on
everything with Karan, and he
ate it all up. They taught him
how to juke his opponents,
how to lift right and how to be
more explosive.
Sometimes he’d use less
weight
when
he
bench-
pressed, bring the weight
down slow, and then explode
up. For squats and leg presses,
he did the same thing.
While other kids were out
elsewhere, Karan was in the
weight room. When he wasn’t
there, he was on the football
field. If he wasn’t there, he was
studying. He was doing it all,
and doing all of it really, really
well.
By the time his first varsity
game came around, Karan,
Christian and Johnson all
knew that he was ready for
this next step.
Everybody
else
quickly
found out.
In
a
game
between
Riverview and Booker High
School, the coaches called a
run play for him.
Karan took the ball and
darted
forward
before
lowering his shoulder to truck
through
Booker
defensive
back Ricky Jones Jr.
5
TheMichiganDaily, www.michigandaily.com
COURTESY OF SAMANTHA CHRISTIAN
Higdon played high school football at Riverview High School.
See HIGDON, Page 6
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Karan Higdon has become the Wolverines’ leading rusher this season, racking up 604 yards on the ground.
I will never
leave here. I
started here,
and this is
where I’m
gonna finish.