WXXV Student Athlete of the Week: Vancleave Football’s John Peterson

Starting off their 2022 football campaign, the Vancleave Bulldogs are off to a hot start as they enter week three with a 2-0 record.

This week’s student athlete of the week is senior running back John Peterson.

For as long as John Peterson can remember, he’s had a football in his hand. He’s been playing football in Vancleave since he was five-years-old with the help of his father, who also played for Vancleave High School. Those little kid dreams haven’t changed one bit. “My dream has always been to play college football, that’s been my dream ever since I started you know, so every day I’ve been trying to work hard to get to it.”

For as long as Head Coach Kevin Fant can remember, the number one jersey has never been given out to a Vancleave player, but this year, the coaching staff thought a member of the team deserved the honor of wearing the threads and that player is Peterson. Coach Fant said, “He was the only choice, the number one choice of all coaches because the way we see it as coaches is to wear the number one jersey, you can’t have a me mindset and it needs to be a guy with a hard work ethic, does everything needed to be for the team, and most of all is humble, and he’s a humble young man, his parents have done a great job with him, and he’s been a joy to coach.”

If Peterson had the choice, he’d want everyone to rep number one on their jerseys because he understands the value of teamwork and what it means to the game of football. “I wouldn’t be able to do it without my o-line, you know I don’t put up those numbers unless they’re blocking so you should be interviewing them right now instead of me.”

But with the help of his offensive line and his knowledge of the game, Peterson is averaging 307 yards per game and ten total touchdowns in his first two games. “He just loves being out here. I don’t know if you can tell, he loves the game of football and I think he’s gonna be one of those guys that one day it ends for everybody and he’s gonna be one of them guys that man he’s gonna cry when it’s over with because he just loves being out here.”

But there’s no reason to cry just yet, the 2022 season is just getting started for the Bulldogs. In fact, it has started off on a perfect note with a record of 2-0. “I just hope we’ll put Vancleave on the map more, because usually we get overlooked a lot when we have good talent. So, hopefully it’ll put us out there more.”

Making a name for himself both on and off the field, Peterson understands the importance of being a good person all around before being an athlete. Coach Fant said, “Main thing I just wanna say is I kinda wish I could hopefully God willing he leaves me on this earth long enough to see him you know reach young adulthood and I kinda wanna see what kind of man he’s gonna be when he gets older because there ain’t no doubt in my mind that he’ll be a great one.”

Peterson and the Bulldogs will be in action on their own turf this Friday against the Moss Point Tigers.