Natchez High ninth grade assistant football coach Tyrone Perry has an easy time talking to Bulldog players about how special it is to play high school football.

That’s because injuries kept him from enjoying that experience to its fullest.

As a junior at South Natchez in 1987, suffered a shoulder injury which limited his play. Then his senior year, the final year for South Natchez-Adams High, Perry broke his leg and played in only one game, the final North Natchez-South Natchez football game. South lost that game 12-0, but just being able to play was a thrill for Perry.

&uot;I try to get across to these guys not to quit and to keep working because they don’t know how lucky they are to be able to play,&uot; Perry said. &uot;I think all the time how it might have been,&uot;&160;he said. &uot;I&160;look back and wonder what I might have been able to accomplish

Despite not playing much high school football, Perry walked on at Copiah-Lincoln Community College and made the football team as a free safety.

&uot;It was real tough,&uot;&160;he said. &uot;I was playing with the big boys and as a walk-on they didn’t want to waste their time with you. I had to prove myself.&uot;

One big factor that helped Perry stick it out was the fact there were a number of North Natchez and South Natchez players on the Co-Lin team.

&uot;After battling against each other all this time, we were like one big family,&uot;&160;Perry said. &uot;And there were a lot of Natchez players.&uot;

Co-Lin won the South State championship in 1989. Two years later, Perry signed with Livingston University as a strong safety.

&uot;Livingston threw the ball almost every down with the run-and-shoot offense, he said. &uot;I&160;wasn’t used to that. We used a lot of man-to-man coverage. We played in a tough league in the Gulf South Conference. Four straight years the national champion came out of our conference.&uot;

Perry is in his second year of coaching at Natchez High.

&uot;I&160;love it,&uot; he said. &uot;It’s kind of like I see myself in the 11th or 12th grade. I look at these guys and then look back thinking this could have been me.&uot;