Newnan's Ogletree twins stand out with local youth

They’ve always been good kids. Their mom used to work for us part time as a gym supervisor, so I got to know them more on a personal level. She would bring them with her, and those two would play basketball one-on-one a lot.

But the one thing that stuck out is that Alec and Zander would get out on a regular-sized football field and play one-on-one football with each other.

They’d kick off, hike the ball and take sweeps. They had to chase each other down and tackle. They’d be out there for a couple of hours each time, and just watching them was a lot of fun.

Alec had one of the hardest hits I’ve ever seen in our football league for 9- and 10-year-olds. There was this running back about to cross the goal line and Alec came out of nowhere and leveled him. The whole crowd went ‘Ooh.’

Now [the twins] work for us on Saturdays as part of the chain crew for youth football. People approach them all the time, congratulating them on a good game and wishing them well. They seem to take all the attention in stride.

From what I can tell, it’s not a big deal for them. You don’t see any big egos whatsoever. They probably think it’s cool but wondering why people are making such a big deal because they’re just doing what they love to do.

This year, we had one of the 8-year-olds [Lanier Wright] ask for No. 39 in honor of his favorite football player, Alec. You don’t see that a lot, but the Ogletrees are role models to a lot of the kids. That’s pretty cool, to have an 8-year-old want a specific number for a high school athlete. That’s when it hit home for me, how much the [twins] have accomplished since playing in the [youth leagues].

They have a very bright future, and it couldn’t happen to nicer young men. They are very grounded and have a great family-support system. Their parents have done a wonderful job teaching them about the fundamentals of life in general.