Pigskin Roundup 2017 | Page 16

All Star Team Alumni Report All Star Team Alum Cherokee County’s COTY BLANCHARD T he naming of the KFC Pigskin Roundup All-Star Team has become a football tradition in East Alabama. The All-Star Team spotlights the best football players at each position in the TV 24 viewing area. Well over 200 former players are now All-Star Team alums, with many of those players having gone on to play college and even professional sports. One of these great former players is former Cherokee County High School quarterback Coty Blanchard. Blanchard led CCHS to their only state football title in 2009, winning the Class 4A Championship at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa in a thrilling last second 31-27 win over Jackson. 14 | 2017 Pigskin Roundup the Magazine Blanchard was a two-time Pigskin Roundup All-Star at quarterback in both 2008 and 2009. His senior season he completed 68% of his passes for 2,964 yards and 35 TDs and ran for 1,161 yards and 20 more TDs. Coty went on to become a two-sport start in both football and baseball at Jacksonville State, and to play pro baseball with the Tampa Bay Rays organization. After baseball, Blanchard began coaching both sports back home at Cherokee County. This season Blanchard will move to Gadsden City to become part of Bart Sessions’ new staff with the Titans. Pigskin Roundup caught up with one of our most famous All-Star Team alums over the summer as he began the next step of his coaching career with Gadsden City.