Outstanding offensive lineman Blake Carruthers heads to Hall of Fame

Published 10:45 pm Tuesday, October 23, 2012

By the nature of their positions, offensive linemen, and the jobs they do, are often overlooked and taken for granted by the fans.

Their work is much more appreciated by their coaches. And often by opposing coaches, too, as former Colquitt County High coach Jim Hughes noted recently when asked about Blake Carruthers, who started 40 games for the Packers from 1993-1995.

“(Valdosta coach) Nick Hyder, after studying film, saw what great technique Blake had,” Hughes said.

“And he wrote letters to college coaches to make sure they were aware of Blake as well.”

With Georgia Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame coach like Hughes and Hyder singing your praises, it is hard to get overlooked.

And Carruthers, after his All-State career at Colquitt County, walked on at Auburn and was the backup center before deciding to transfer to Troy State.

He became a first-team All-Conference and third-team All-American for the 10-2 Trojans in 2000.

Carruthers went on to instruct young linemen in those techniques at three high schools before retiring — perhaps briefly — to spend more time with his wife and baby daughter.

He returned to Moultrie several weeks ago to watch the Packers play Lowndes at Tom White Field at Mack Tharpe Stadium and will be back in town again on Nov. 1, when he will be inducted into the Colquitt County Sports Hall of Fame at its annual banquet.

And he will step inside the stadium fence the next night when he is introduced with the other members of the Class of 2012 before the Colquitt County-Coffee game.

Carruthers grew up in Norman Park with Chad Horne, Danny Walker and Brian Daniels, all of whom also earned state championship rings as members of the Colquitt County High 1994 Class AAAA state championship football team. Among his youth football coaches in Norman Park were John Norris, Tony Weaver and Mickey Key.

Carruthers laughs and says he will alway be indebted to Norris, who let him play linebacker.

By the time he reached the eighth grade and suited up for coach Roy Saturday, he was a defensive lineman.

As a sophomore, he began on the defensive line.

But when an offensive lineman was involved in an automobile crash, he was moved to offense.

As a sophomore he started at guard, was a tackle as junior on the state championship team and played both guard and tackle as a senior in 1995.

“Fundamentally, he was as sound as any offensive lineman we coached,” Hughes said. “He could have played any position on the offensive line.

“His technique was that good and he was that knowledgeable.”

Kevin Giddens, who was the Packers offensive line coach in 1994, called Carruthers “a coach on the field.”

He had all the attributes of an outstanding football player, Giddens said.

“He was focused, he was smart, he played under control and he worked hard,” Giddens said. “He’d see how the defense lined up and he’s make the call. He always put us in a good position.

“And he was not a rah-rah guy. But when it came to football, he was all business. And he was a great leader.”

Giddens, who has coached a number of outstanding lineman during his years at Colquitt County and Coffee, rates Carruthers among the best four he has coached.

And he remembers Carruthers as one of the finest young men he has known as well.

“When I was coaching Blake, my son (Bryce) was about 6 years old and I remember thinking I hope he grows up to be like him,” Giddens said.

When Carruthers was a sophomore, Colquitt County started 1-5, but then won five in row before losing in the playoffs when Upson-Lee’s Willie Kemball scored a touchdown with 21 seconds to deal the Packers a 27-20 defeat.

“I think we knew then we had something special,” Carruthers said.

And they did, winning 15 straight games in 1994 to deliver the first Packers state championship.

Carruthers started on the offensive line that also included Horne, Daniels, Todd Myrick and Richard Jones.

The linemen were a tight group, Carruthers remembers, often meeting the night before a game at his house in Norman Park to eat pizza and cut each other’s hair.

Giddens, of course, would call to check up on them.

“One time, when he called, my mother told him we were all in the pool with a couple of cheerleaders,” Carruthers said.

“I could hear him saying, ‘What!!’”

When he was a senior, the Packers went 9-4, losing in the playoffs to Warner Robins.

“I still think the best two teams in the state played that night,” he said.

Carruthers was a first-team All-Region and first-team All-State selection as a senior.

He had started 40 consecutive games and the Packers went 30-10. He received the Unsung Hero Award at the football banquet and was a Class Favorite.

He also was selected to play in the North-South All-Star game and when he reported to practice, the coach asked if he could play center.

That’s where he started in the All-Star game and where he played when he walked on at Auburn.

Although he was a member of the SEC West champion team in 1997 and had worked his way up to No. 2 center, “they never seemed to give me a chance.”

Troy State, which had recruited him out of high school, certainly did. He walked on and during his first spring earned a scholarship.

In 1999 he was a third-team All-Southland Conference selection as Troy won conference championship and went 11-2.

As a senior, he was a first-team All-Conference selection and a third-team All-American as the Trojans went 10-2.

His college career ended on a somewhat disappointing note when Troy was defeated in the playoffs by Appalachian State, a team it had defeated handily in the regular season.

Troy was 21-4 in the games he started in 1999 and 2000.

“He was a good fit for them,” Hughes said.

Carruthers said Giddens influenced his choice to go into coaching.

“He meant so much to me,” he said. “And I still loved football so much.”

After graduating from Troy, his first job coaching the defensive line at East Coweta.

He took a year off from coaching and moved to Moultrie, hoping to get on the Packers staff.

When that did not work out, he went to Perry for two years, coaching outside linebackers one year and offensive line the next.

Carruthers then moved to Bainbridge where he coached on the Bearcats varsity staff for five years and on the middle school staff for two years.

He is married to Kimberly Hearndon of Sharpsburg who, ironically, played in East Coweta High band the night the Indians fell to the Packers at Mack Tharpe Stadium in the 1994 playoffs.

The two have a 4 1/2-year old daughter Kinsey who attends Jones-Wheat Elementary School in Bainbridge where her father is a teacher.

Carruthers does not rule out a return to the sideline.

“I miss the kids and the Friday nights,” Carruthers said of his first year not coaching.

Hughes, for one, would like to see Carruthers get back into coaching.

“If he teaches kids the techniques he mastered, he’s an excellent coach,” Hughes said.