He hung back at middle safety, his eyes fixed forward, waiting for a tell, waiting to bite, and then he saw it: No. 87, streaking across the middle of the field. Slant route, he told himself. Get there.



What George Odum, two-way star for the Millington Central Trojans in Memphis, Tenn., did next was exactly what his coaches had always taught: he beat No. 87 to the spot, he lowered his shoulder and he braced for impact.



Then it came, a routine hit on a routine play amidst a routine practice, pads popping like they’re supposed to on a high school football field three days before the season opener. Odum remembers not thinking much of it at first — 87 had run into him, not the other way around — until he saw the receiver fall to his knees and start fighting for breaths that weren’t there and weren’t coming.



Seven years later he can still see that face: The panic, the helplessness. He remembers his heart sinking, his mind...