William Gholston, a defensive end from Detroit Southeastern High School, holds his helmet with his teammates after they defeated Westland’s John Glenn High School in the state playoffs.
It wasn’t the physicality of the sport that first piqued William Gholston’s interest in football. Nor was it the athleticism or precision the players displayed on the field.
Instead, it was equipment Gholston’s older brother’s team was using — or rather, not using — that first caught his eye.
“I started playing because my brother did, and I went to practice and saw some equipment on the sideline and wanted to take it,” said Gholston, a four-star recruit in the MSU football team’s 2010 recruiting class. “I didn’t want to play with the equipment, I just wanted to take it. I don’t really know why.”
Unfortunately, Gholston was caught in the action, and never got to take home the equipment. But an invitation from the coach to hang around the team piqued his interest even more, and since that day football has evolved into a big part of Gholston’s life.
Gholston started playing football shortly thereafter, getting “addicted” to the game around the seventh or eighth grade. But it was in the following years at Detroit Southeastern High School that he truly started to love the game, in part because he felt football could be an escape from “kind of a hard” childhood.
“It wasn’t too straight of a path — I was kind of bad when I was little,” Gholston said. “But I stayed straight and got into high school and started caring more about football it was completely different.”
Archie Collins, Detroit Southeastern’s defensive coordinator, is one of the coaches Gholston built a relationship with. Currently, Collins helps to keep Gholston focused on school, and then the gridiron.
Even with Gholston’s potential, Collins wouldn’t have gone out of his way to help the youngster if he didn’t display the desire to better himself. The two first met when Gholston was in eighth grade and Collins was working at Detroit Mackenzie High School as a football coach.
“(Gholston) started to show up early at 6 a.m. to work out with the varsity team, and the first thing that showed me was a little dedication,” Collins said. “He was 6-foot-2 as an eighth-grader, so I knew hew as going to be special, but for him to come to work with the team really showed me more.”
Detroit Southeastern head Donshell English had the same first impression.
“He was raw, but he had a whole lot of ability,” English said. “We just had to change his way of thinking and understanding the game, and respecting the game.”
From interest, to addiction, to love, to respect, Gholston’s football career already has matured rapidly. What happens next at MSU is to be determined, but Gholston knows where he wants his football career to end.
“I want to be in the Hall of Fame,” Gholston said. “I don’t believe that it’s not possible to do certain things, as long as you’re determined. Everything is possible as long as you believe in it and do the work to achieve it.”
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