Every time somebody utters the commonly-used phrase, “Aw, he’s too little to play in college,” I cringe and think of Bubba Coleman.

I thought of Bubba the other day when I mentioned Keith Garrett’s name.

Do you even remember Bubba Coleman? He graduated from Davie County High School in 1993. He played in a 4A conference, going up against schools from mighty Winston-Salem and Greensboro.

But the country boy from the country school fooled ‘em. He played all the premier positions and in his senior year, was the all-conference quarterback in football, all-conference point guard in basketball and all-conference (and all-state) shortstop in baseball.

So why didn’t we follow him through a sterling college career?

Nobody gave him a chance.

Bubba Coleman was — and I’m assuming, still is — 5-foot-7.

It baffled Bubba’s coaches, like David Hunt, now a West Rowan football coach. Hunt was the mastermind behind a War Eagle baseball team that finished one game from the state 4A finals in 1993. But Hunt also was — and I’m assuming still is — a realist. Like Bubba, he faced the cold hard facts. A college coach has gotta have guts to give the little guy a chance in a sports world that longs for a lot of height and a lot of weight.

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Which brings us to Garrett — another little guy.

Garrett is listed at 5-foot-7 and 145 pounds. He may be. His football coach at South Rowan High School, Rick Vanhoy, once told the Post he really didn’t want to know how much Garrett weighed.

At the time of the interview, after South’s 27-20 win over Mooresville, Vanhoy was becoming a realist too. He knew how the system worked. Of course, Vanhoy was a mountain of a young man when he graduated from East Rowan 2 1/2 decades ago. He was around 6-5 and people recruit you when you’ve got size. North Carolina did just that.

So Vanhoy was already cheerleading for his beloved tailback, a pint-sized brute who had just ripped Mooresville apart for 133 yards.

“Hopefully, there’s a college out there that will give him a dadgum chance,” Vanhoy told the Post.

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David Bennett is giving Garrett the chance that Bubba never got. He is giving a 5-foot-7 kid a shot at college football for a Catawba College team that was ranked as high as second in the nation last season in Division II.

Bennett loves guys like Garrett — the underdog. Bennett loves for you to tell him a kid can’t do the job when he thinks he can.

And just like the little engine, Garrett thinks he can. He thinks he can.

More importantly, Bennett thinks he can.

“I’ve watched Keith the last couple of years and really liked him,” said Bennett, who goes to a county football game every Friday night during the season. “Just because he’s small, it doesn’t tell you about his heart. He plays hard.”

Bennett will use Garrett as a kickoff and punt returner. Maybe make him a future wide receiver. And let’s not forget there was once a 5-6 pass catcher at Catawba who was pretty good named Jeff Park. Pretty good? Little guy Park still holds Catawba’s career mark for receptions (156).

“It doesn’t matter how big you are if you can catch the ball,” Bennett said. “The smaller you are, it might be an advantage. They can’t catch you.”

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That’s another thing about Garrett, who rushed for 1,037 yards as a senior, leading South to an 8-3 record and becoming just the fourth South back to go over 1,000 yards. He doesn’t try to make you miss. He runs at you and pummels you. That’s right. A 5-foot-7 guy pummels people.

That’s probably the wrestler in him. You do know he was one of South’s top wrestlers ever, don’t you? And by the way, Catawba is starting a wrestling program next year.

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Everybody who knows Garrett did not want his football career to end. And not just because of what he did on the field. He was an active leader off of it too.

“We’re certainly proud of how Keith buckled down in the classroom his senior year and did such an outstanding job,” Bennett said.

So outstanding that South Rowan principal Alan King made his own pitch to Bennett.

“He said, ‘Look here now, Keith Garrett hasn’t signed with anybody and he’s interested in Catawba,’” Bennett recalled. “Dr. King said so many good things about him. The last we heard he was going to West Liberty but he’s an ol’ homeboy who wanted to be a part of our program.”

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Things shouldn’t change much for Garrett as far as coachspeak. He goes from Vanhoy’s “dadgums” to Bennett’s “dadblames.” And he goes from one coach who always believed in him to one who will continue that trend.

In fact, unlike most first-year players at Catawba, Garrett might play as a true freshman.

“That’s up to Keith Garrett,” Bennett replied when asked if the mighty-mite would be redshirted. “If he can get in there, return kicks and punts and do the job right away, we’ll give him a shot.”

Which left me with just one last question for the David Bennett.

Where the heck were you when Bubba Coleman was a senior?

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Contact Ronnie Gallagher at 704-797-4256 or rgallagher@salisburypost.com .