Eric Dennis had two main goals for his senior season – helping his team to get back the respect he felt they had lost over the past few seasons and helping his head coach, Buck Godfrey, capture a state championship.

He felt one of the two was accomplished this year, however Southwest DeKalb (6-4 regular season record) lost in the second round of the 7-AAAAA playoffs last Friday and thus fell short of the state championship aspirations.

“Southwest is a powerhouse down here,” Dennis said. “We’ve fallen off in the past few years, losing in the first round of the playoffs. We lost some of that swagger. This year, our goal was to gain back the respect. This was our last year in 5-A ball. We beat our rival Stevenson, made it to the second round of the playoffs, so we did good. Our main focus was to re-establish respect, and I think we did that. I wasn’t satisfied, because I wanted to win a state title for Coach Buck.”

Godfrey is a special person in Dennis’ life, serving as a friend on and off the field. Dennis is hoping to find a similar type of relationship on the collegiate level. Virginia, which sent him his first recruiting letter as a junior, seems to have sparked a similar chemistry with the talented prospect.

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