MINNEAPOLIS — Finding the words is hard for Minneapolis North head football coach Charles Adams.
Even now, six months after North High star quarterback, No. 9, Deshaun Hill, was murdered the pain of that February day has not gone away.
“Man, I miss him so much, man,” said Adams. "He brought so much energy to this program, which gets fed off, so I'm going to miss him so much.”
But the Polars move forward, and they do so in Deshaun's memory. From the decal on their helmets with Deshaun's face, to the fact his name will forever appear on the North roster, and his No. 9 jersey never to be worn again during a game.
But it will be worn in practice to honor Deshaun, and on this day, too, by his good friend, Khalil Brown.
“Really when he passed I said, 'Well, I'm going to follow in his legacy, so I'm going to grind even more,” says Brown.
Football is a grind. It's a brotherhood, and at North, this brotherhood is tighter than ever as they work through the pain.
“If you're going to rep D-Hill you going to rep him to the fullest and that means changing the culture and how you prepare...and that's exactly what they've done, and it's been led by them,” said Adams.
“This [practice] makes us sane and we need this just as much as anybody else. Bittersweet, but it's great for us to be here.”
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