WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — In January 2023, Colt Warnock — a Northside High School football player — was in Athens at a recruiting camp, hoping to get noticed by college coaches.
Four months later, while working out in his driveway on May 8, Colt's football future was paused.
"I had a pausing point when I was at the bottom of my driveway, and a random person just came up and tried to convince me that he lived at my house," Warnock said. "I wouldn't let him in, so we got into it, and then he pulled a gun out and shot me. Really, I wasn't even thinking about myself — I was just thinking about my mama and my family."
The man shot Warnock in the stomach.
"I was like, 'I'm only 15. I can't leave now,'" he said. "So I just toughened through and walked up the driveway. First thing I did was hug my mama."
Colt was taken to the hospital in Macon, where he stayed for the next three days.
"Painful everywhere, my whole body," he said. "Not going to lie to you, the first month, I was like, 'I'm just not going to play football.;"
His right colon was partially removed, but the bullet couldn't be — it's still lodged behind his kidney.
Colt didn't know if he'd play again. But one thing he was sure of? His next meal.
"My mom, she went and got us some Chick-fil-A," he said. "I love Chick-fil-A. I had a number one with a chocolate milkshake."
After a month away, he'd had enough. One day in the weight room, he made the difference.
"I was like, 'you know what, I'm just going to go for 350,'" he said. "It was squats, and I hit it. And I was like, 'ok, I think I'm ready to get back in pads.'"
Two months after being shot, Colt Warnock was back on the field.
"I'm super thankful," he said. "I give all my thanks and glory to God. He got me here."
His coach at Northside said it took a lot for Warnock to do what he did.
"Something like that happens; you don't know if a kid will decide to shut it down or keep going and use it as fuel," Northside head coach Ben Bailey said. "He's done a really good job. Obviously, we've eased him into things, but now he's just about 100 percent, so we're excited about that. He's got a great attitude."
The Eagles have always called themselves a family. But never has that been more true than this season on the north side of town.
"Love," Warnock said. "I got love for everybody on that team."