Momma, I made it: Warner Robins linebacker Coby Reed graduates with honors through it all

The Warner Robins High School Class of 2018 made

their way across the stage and on to the next academic and accomplishment stage

of their young lives on Saturday. The feelings of getting that high school

diploma is one that cannot be duplicated, not even when they graduate from

college. High school is a particular time in ones life that will never happen

again. The memories are special, if nothing else then for that reason alone.

One of those graduates had to weather the storm of

emotions on his big day without the most important person in his life.

“Everybody that knows me knows I am a momma’s boy,” said former Warner Robins

High School receiver Coby Reed hours after graduation on ceremonies have ended.

“I’m glad it’s over with.” Reed’s mother, the late Kylie Reed, was not

physically there to see her son graduate from her alma mater but she was there

in spirit and Reed knows that. “It feels good to know that this would make her

happy,” says Reed. “Graduating from her alma mater makes me proud.”

Reed has a lot going for him, he’s signed to study

and play football at nearby Mercer University and despite the absence of his

mother who passed away in October 2016, Reed feels a sense of accomplishment

that will stay with him long past this weekend and into his intial days as a

college freshman. “First and foremost, It makes me happy because grades were

everything to me and my mom,” said Reed. “Going to Mercer University one of the

top academic schools in the state and country would make my mom happy.”

Reed and Kylie were close, as most boys and their

mothers are, but these two might have been a little closer due to the strength

of their friendship. “It was lonely,” said Reed of graduating and not having a

post-ceremony hug from his mother. “She was all I had while I was little.”

Reed’s time at Warner Robins High School did a lot to help him cope, as much as

one can following a loss of that magnitude.

“The Warner Robins family became my family,” he

said. “There has been a bunch of trials and tribulations over the last four

years but I feel accomplished more than anything,” said Reed when asked about

how he felt to be a graduate.

The next level of football and most importantly of

academia will take place in Macon at Mercer and Reed feels that with all he has

been through he’s more than ready to take it on. “It won’t be too difficult

because I got a taste of the college atmosphere as a dual enrollment student at

Georgia Military College,” said Reed. “Mercer’s the read deal.”

Nothing stopped Reed from accomplishing his goal of

graduating from high school and getting an opportunity to play college

football. With his mother keeping an eye out for him as he moves on to the next

stage in life there’s a good chance he will continue to be successful.

 “She’s

be happy and satisfied that all of our hard work has paid off,” said Reed of

his mother.

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