Takeo Spikes’ “Process” Paved Way to National High School Hall of Fame

During his four years at Washington County High School in Sandersville, Georgia, Takeo (Ta-KEY-o) Spikes was one of the top two-way players in the state’s history. As a linebacker and tight end, Spikes helped his school to a 41-3 record, including a 15-0 mark and a state championship as a senior in 1994.

Spikes’ Washington County teams won three regional championships and finished first, second and a state semifinalist during his final three years. The 1994 state championship team scored 641 points (42.7 per game and a state record at the time) and is still considered one of the top teams in state history.

Spikes was one of the biggest reasons that Washington County achieved that lofty status. On offense, he caught 40 passes, 22 of which went for touchdowns, for 751 yards. On the defensive side, he had 238 tackles (including an amazing 33 for losses), three interceptions and two blocked punts. Not surprisingly, he was named Player of the Year by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Middle Georgia Player of the Year by the Macon Telegraph.

Other honors include two-time all-state, 1994 Parade All-American, 1994 USA Today All-American, Georgia Defensive Player of the Year, three-time first team all-region and 1994 Region Player of the Year.

In a 2007 ranking by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution of the state’s all-time best high school football players, Spikes was No. 7 in the Top 25 poll, which was headed by Herschel Walker, another member of the National High School Hall of Fame.

“Takeo was one of the most popular students in school among his academic teachers and school administrators,” said Rick Tomberlin, Spikes’ football coach at Washington County. “In my observation, which goes beyond 40-plus years, I have never witnessed a better high school player in any classification than Takeo Spikes. Takeo was our team leader, our bell cow! Takeo was the best team leader I have ever observed.”

Spikes also competed in track and field and earned four letters. He was a multi-event participant and received regional and state honors in his final three years.

At the next level, Spikes was a three-year starter at Auburn University and a two-time All-Southeastern Conference selection. In 1997, he led the Tigers with 136 tackles and helped Auburn advance to the SEC championship game, in which he was named most valuable player.

Spikes left Auburn after his junior year and was the 13th overall pick in the 1998 NFL Draft by the Cincinnati Bengals. He played five years with the Bengals, followed by stints with Buffalo, Philadelphia, San Francisco and San Diego. He was first team all-pro in 2004 with Buffalo and two-time Pro Bowl (2003, 2004).

In 15 years, Spikes recorded 29 sacks and had 19 interceptions. He is one of seven linebackers in NFL history to start more than 200 games (219).

Following his playing career, Spikes earned his degree from Auburn in 2016. He has been inducted into the Alabama and Georgia Sports Halls of Fame. He is a mentor to middle school and high school students at his annual TKO Camps.

Spikes, along with three other outstanding former athletes, four highly successful high school coaches, two former state association administrators and one contest official, will be inducted into the NFHS National High School Hall of Fame July 1 at the 105th NFHS Summer Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts.

Question: You played offense and the defense at Washington County High School, starring at both tight end and linebacker. Did your knowledge of the tight end position and its tendencies make you a better linebacker?
Spikes: “That’s a great question and I tell kids all the time, it helped me tremendously. It helped me understand how I was going to be blocked on certain running plays in (the opponent’s) offense. I knew that because I knew the ‘rules’ and ‘keys’ for blocking and it just gave me insight on how they were looking to attack us on the defensive side. And it also gave me an opportunity to learn the little nuances of what it feels like to be ‘in the trenches.’ I learned how to be an intuitive player in high school because I saw (the game) from both sides of the ball.”

Question: You were named Georgia’s all-class high school football player of the year by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 1994 and were later ranked No. 7 in the AJC’s list of the Top 25 players in state history. When you think about those honors in the context of Georgia’s rich history of tremendous high school football players, what comes to mind?
Spikes: “To be quite honest, it’s flattering. Looking back on it now and seeing that I’m one of the top 10 greatest of all time here in the state of Georgia, knowing how long the game has been around, it’s flattering. But more than anything, I think it’s a testament to what I’ve been through and the sacrifices that I made at such a young age. We live in a fast-paced society where people expect quick results and instant recognition, even for trivial tasks like microwaving popcorn. But it doesn’t work like that. So, for me to remain steadfast in my belief, to remain steadfast in what I was doing, my structured system that was implemented by not only my parents but also by my high school coach, Rick Tomberlin, and his staff, who poured so much into me – to be completely honest with you, it’s pretty cool to see.”

Question: That 1994 team averaged a then-state record 42.7 points per game on its way to a 15-0 record and a Georgia High School Association Class AA state title and is included among the greatest teams in state history. What are some of your lasting memories from that year?
Spikes: “That year really was a culmination of what happened in the previous two years. My 10th-grade year, we got a new coach, Rick Tomberlin. He came in and did not know anybody, but he knew we had some good players and that he could mold us into what he thought that we could eventually be. He sold us hope. He created the culture and we all bought in. We went to the state championship game my 10th-grade year and we lost. 14-0, lost, 14-1. The next year, we thought, ‘okay, we’re coming back to do it.’ We ended up losing in the semifinals. So, for this 15-0 season, I remember that summer before we got ready to go in for group activities, and I just got a lot of the guys together and I was like, ‘this is what we have to do in order to get over the hump.’ It was like we could not wait to get off the bus. We were so ticked off by what happened the past two years, it wasn’t a question of ‘can we win?’ It was, ‘by how much?’ And that’s the confidence that we had as a young group.”

Question: You were a track and field standout in high school as well and won multiple honors across a variety of events throughout your career. Do you feel your participation in track and field made you a better football player?
Spikes: “No question. And what turned me on to track and field was, I knew I could run, but I didn’t know how to run. And so, being under the leadership and tutelage of my high school coach, Frank Lee, he showed me how to run. I remember the first time I got up and ran the 100-meter dash. I remember lining up in the blocks, and people did not expect me to run fast just because I was big. I came out of the gate, and I remember vividly hearing the crowd like ‘ooooh.’ I finished second in that race and I ran a 10.9 (seconds), and the winner of that race ran a 10.5. And I walked away with so much confidence. I was like, ‘I really can run.’

Question: If you had to pick your favorite high school memory not related to your athletic career, what would it be?
Spikes: “Making the score for the SAT. I struggled with that because I wasn’t a good test-taker. I had over a 3.0 (grade-point average), but when it came time for taking standardized tests, it just made me have anxiety before I even knew what anxiety was. It’s my greatest high school memory. I was down and out, and I was well into my senior year taking this test trying to make the score. And I remember class had broken and I was walking to my locker. And my mother, she’s an educator, so she was a teacher at the school. So, my mother, I saw her running, making noise, and I’m like, ‘why is my Mama yelling? I’ve never seen her doing this before.’ And as she got closer, I remember hearing her saying it with the paper in her hand, ‘boy, you did it! I knew you were going to do it! You passed it! You passed it!’ Oh, my God, I almost cried.”

Question: You went on to be a team captain in 13 of your 15 NFL seasons. How would you say you honed those leadership skills during your high school career? Who were the leaders you looked up back then?
Spikes: “One guy who had a big influence on me was Robert Edwards. We played two years of high school football with each other. His senior year was my sophomore year, and his influence on me really was awesome. Robert was a special player, and he was a guy who worked his butt off. He was just gifted. Whatever you put in his hands, he could do well. Whether it was golf, basketball – he was that dude. And that really motivated me. And the way (Robert) handled the process of having success when nobody knew that we were going to go 14-1 that season really meant a lot to me. I also had another teammate the next year, my junior year, Demetro Stephens. What I took from him that really gave me confidence was his commitment to the weight room. He taught me that when you go in that weight room and you sweat it out for months, and you’re consistently stacking days on top of days of having great workouts – you were bulletproof. Those guys blazed a path for me.”

Question: You declared for the NFL Draft after your junior season at Auburn but then returned to complete your bachelor’s degree and later graduated with your MBA from the University of Miami in 2017. What led you to refocus on academics and what message do you have for student-athletes who will be in that same position one day?
Spikes: “My mother always was like that little nagging voice in my ear. She was always saying ‘boy, you better take your butt back to school and get your papers.’ And I used to respond to her and tell her, ‘Mom, we’re going to be rich. That’s the reason why you get the paper is so you can be rich, and I’m already rich.’ That’s what I used to tell her. And she used to be like, ‘well, you still better go back to school and go get it.’ (To current student-athletes) I would say, ‘finish what you start.’ It’s no different than the game of football, it’s just called something different. It’s the game of life. And if you take the same principles that were instilled in you as a young player, those are the same principles that it will take for you to have success in life. If you have that same concentration and that same focus. And honestly, that was the best thing that happened to me, especially going back to get my MBA. Why? Because it really allowed me to see how many people could leverage (me) – just from even knowing who I was – for a monetary gain. And that was so eye-opening for me from every aspect of it, and it really kind of gave me organized structure from the business side. So, I highly encourage any student-athlete: finish what you start. You want to have a solid general knowledge of how this business works so you can get somebody in a position to help you and your brand grow into something you can capitalize off of.”

Question: One of the impactful initiatives you’ve created is your “TKO” camp series, through which you and other NFL legends help middle school and high school students turn their dreams into reality. Tell us more about the TKO camps, along with your motivation for starting them.
Spikes: “The motivation for starting them was ‘access.’ When you grow up in a rural area, you don’t have access to a lot of things that other people typically do. I come from a town where (kids) believe, ‘I can only be what I see.’ And the unfortunate part is, a lot of what you see are the things that send you to jail. So, I said, ‘you know what? I’m going to take all of these Pro Bowlers, these All-Pro guys and I’m going to bring them to my hometown and give the kids that exposure, and just let them know like, ‘it’s okay to want to dream. It’s okay to want to make it.’ But the more important thing that I wanted to convey was for them to understand that they can aspire to be professionals in whatever fields that they choose. And if it doesn’t happen, that’s okay. At the end of the day, what I want them to realize is that sometimes – more times than not – the journey is more important than the end result. And the reason why it’s so important is because you learn how to be a pro. You learn what it takes to be successful, not just in the game, but in the game of life. I wanted to develop a curriculum that used sports to teach kids about accountability, being dependable, understanding adversity and how to work through it, going through ‘the grind.’ All of these things that it takes for you just to be a good human being, sports show you them in a short time period. And that’s what I wanted to do with the TKO camps.”

Question: You’re a member of several Halls of Fame, including the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame and the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame. What makes this induction into the National High School Hall of Fame special to you?
Spikes: “To me, that’s the ultimate trump card. My first time hearing of the National High School Hall of Fame was five years ago when I saw a good friend of mine, Derrick Brooks, get inducted. And I was like, ‘wow, I never knew that.’ And so, I have been kind of following it ever since then. And so, now, to see where we are, and to be able to have that trump card, for me, it’s very inspirational. As a kid, I never had hopes of becoming that person. All I wanted to do every day was be the best version of me that I possibly could be – that was it. And now, with the blueprint I laid out, this is what it’s gotten me. It’s a huge honor.”

Question: Looking back on your entire career, what are you most proud of?
Spikes: “I think I’m most proud of the process of how I went through it. And there were times I woke up and ‘the medicine’ I had to take during the process – that’s what I called it – it wasn’t ‘good’ a lot of the mornings. But I did it. And I believed in what my father shared with me at a young age – just staying committed to the process; being able to develop an ethos as a man and saying, ‘this is my daily grind. This is my daily ritual. This is what I’m going to live by, and I will not compromise.’ And that’s probably the biggest thing that I appreciate out of everything is being able to have supportive parents, especially my father. He found ways to talk to me without lecturing, and that’s the reason why I was the player I was, and why I’m the man that I am today.”