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By Brian Pitts

Enterprise Record

Tim Devericks has a new coach on his Davie football staff. Six years ago, Caleb Fogle was wearing No. 52 and playing in a game at War Eagle Stadium.

But he wasn’t playing for the War Eagles. He was wearing black and orange, but it was the other black and orange. He was playing for the Black Knights, Davie’s oldest rival. (Davie and North have collided 52 times on the gridiron, with North holding a 27-25 lead in the series.)

“Don’t hold this against me, but I went to North Davidson,” Fogle said with a laugh. “Maybe we shouldn’t put that in the article.”

Fogle, 22, graduated from North in 2016 and spent the next four years at UNC-Charlotte. He graduated from Charlotte last May. He landed a job at Davie High as a teacher in the special ed department. He joined the football staff as a receivers coach.

“I’ve been welcomed with open arms,” he said. “We haven’t been doing a whole lot – nobody has – but it’s been good to be around the coaches and players when we can.”

Sometimes it’s a very small world. Fogle has gone from watching Chris Reynolds closely to helping coach Jack Reynolds. Chris is the starting quarterback at Charlotte; Jack, a senior who has committed to Charlotte, is a star receiver for the War Eagles.

“I was a student-assistant at Charlotte when Chris was getting recruited,” Fogle said. “It was cool to see him grow into the role that he’s in now. I’m good friends with Chris and I met Jack once I got to Davie. It’s been cool to see the similarities between the two.”

As a freshman at North Davidson, Fogle was a two-sport athlete (football and track & field). He dropped track after the 2013 season and concentrated solely on football.

An offensive lineman, he played on some awesome football teams at North. As a 2013 JV sophomore, he earned a call-up for the playoffs. In the first round, the Black Knights set the scoreboard on fire in a 77-40 win over T.C. Roberson. Dudley, though, was too much in the second round, beating North 46-14 as the Knights closed with a 10-3 record.

As a junior in 2014, Fogle was a varsity backup. His Knights overmatched Davie (59-29), finished second in the Central Piedmont Conference and raced past Watauga (52-14) in the first round. Reagan ended North’s season at 11-2 with a 48-24 decision.

As a senior in 2015, Fogle was the starting left tackle at 6-0, 240, protecting brilliant quarterback Joe Butts’ blindside. His Knights outscored Davie (45-28) and dispatched Southeast Guilford (35-24) in the first round. In Davie’s first-round game, the War Eagles put a major scare in heavily-favored Scotland County in Laurinburg, leading for a good part of the game before running out of juice and falling 44-36.

That set up a North-at-Scotland second-rounder. North got a fourth-down stop around midfield to pull out the win, 46-42. After coming in with a 12-0 record, running back Zamir White, who currently plays for Georgia, and the Fighting Scots were suddenly done.

“We got a good play by our corner, who blitzed without being told to on a fourth-and-1 and stopped them,” Fogle said. “That was a crazy atmosphere, crazy game, and definitely one I’ll remember for a long time.”

North’s run ended at 12-2 with a 35-23 loss at Charlotte Catholic, the eventual 4A champion.

Fogle’s junior/senior teams enjoyed 23 victories against four defeats. They outscored Davie 104-57 in 2014-15.

“That team my senior year was a special team,” he said. “We were very close on and off the field.”

Five years later, he’s a War Eagle.

“Right now I’m just trying to learn my role and be a sponge with everything, soaking it all up and trying to learn as much as I can in a different system,” he said. “But I feel like I’ve got some good guys around me to teach me.”

Devericks called Fogle a “great addition.”

“From day one, he has jumped in with enthusiasm to do whatever is needed,” Devericks said. “He’s a very hard worker on and off the field to help all the kids at Davie High.”