PSN Spotlight: One On One With Newnan Cougars Basketball Senior Forward Derrius Teagle
With summer workouts and fall leagues of the offseason behind him, Newnan Cougars Men’s basketball senior forward, Derrius Teagle, is ready to step into his final year of high school basketball embracing a leadership role that he hopes can lead the Cougars on a deep run for the 2022-2023 season. During the offseason, Teagle says that working on being a more “physical” player on both ends of the court is an area of focus he had and hopes will help him with his contributions this season. “Having my dad, my coaches helping me through things, watching film from previous years,” were just some of the ways Teagle says helped him with his approach to the upcoming season.
Adversities have also played their part in Teagle’s preparation for the season, but more so from a mental toughness aspect. At the start of his sophomore season, Teagle suffered a torn patellar tendon at the start of the season, thus sidelining him for the remainder of the year. “Dealing with my knee injury was a very stressful long journey, but I’m glad I had people I care about and love, family, teammates, coaches come around to check on me and see how I’m doing,” Teagle said of his recovery and return to the court. “I just love how people came together just to see me get better,” Teagle added.
In 2021, Teagle, his teammates and the Newnan community were struck hard when a tornado ripped through the area, damaging several buildings on campus including the gymnasium, thus displacing the basketball programs and Teagle says that seeing the community come together through such a trying time was “a blessing” as all walks of life wrapped their arms around one another. “Seeing different people come together that you really don’t see a lot, come around and help the community,” was something Teagle says was great to see.
Newnan head coach, Trent Gatzmeyer, has been with the Cougars program throughout Teagle’s time and has had the chance to see the 6-foot-5 forward battle through tough times and grow as a player, saying that “the great part of Derrius is he’s a natural hard worker and he wants to be coachable and you can really push him to develop”. Gatzmeyer added that Teagle has shown growth athletically and within his skill set and that is what he believes college coaches will be impressed with the most once Teagle moves on. “He’s willing to work at it”.
And while Teagle is eager to take the next step in his student athlete journey once his high school career comes to an end, there will be plenty of memories from his Newnan days that will forever be with him. “My teammates, people coming together, coaching staffs and how they pushed me to be the person I am now,” were just a few things Teagle mentioned adding, “I’m really going to miss it for real”.
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