Andy Griffith is ‘Mayberry’ off the field, mayhem on it for Mt. Juliet Christian football
Andy Griffith has heard it all.
When he was young, waitresses would hear the Mt. Juliet Christian Academy defensive tackle’s name and ask about Barney Fife or Opie — famous characters from the 1960s television series “The Andy Griffith Show.”
Griffith wasn’t named after the show, or the actor who starred in it, but that didn’t stop people from making the connection.
“When I played pee-wee football, they nicknamed me ‘Mayberry,’” Griffith said, referencing the sleepy North Carolina town depicted in the TV show. “That was my nickname for a long time.”
Griffith plays nothing like "Mayberry" on the football field.
The 6-foot-1, 230-pound senior finished with 81 tackles, 25 tackles for loss, 13 sacks, 34 quarterback hurries, four fumble recoveries, nine forced fumbles, six blocked field goals and one blocked extra point during last year's TSSAA football season. He was named to The Tennessean’s All-Midstate Small Class second team and the Tennessee Sports Writers Association Division II-A All-State team.
MJCA quarterbacks coach Jarren Myers is used to seeing Griffith hound the Saints’ quarterbacks in practice.
“He’s a game wrecker. He’s a game changer,” Myers said. “When we have to have a play, he’s bringing the juice.”
How Mt. Juliet Christian’s Andy Griffith actually got his name
Griffith’s dad, Steve, named his son in honor of a late friend whose name was also Andy.
“He was about 35 when he passed away,” Griffith's dad said. “We weren’t planning on having any more kids, but I just wanted to honor him. So, I said, ‘We’re going to have a boy and name him Andy.’ It was kind of a God thing. Within a month we were pregnant.”
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Griffith in many ways has taken on the TV show’s good nature through his personality. He helps the MJCA lunch staff clean up and put away tables after lunch. He works part-time for his dad but also operates his own erosion control business on the side.
“A friend of mine who is a developer and builder in Mt. Juliet, he was talking about how it was profitable to do these erosion control businesses,” Griffith's dad said. “But you have to take a class to do it. By the end of the day, Andy had scheduled the class and paid $500 for it.”
On the football field, Griffith was almost too kind at first. He had a hard time playing aggressively out of fear of hurting anyone.
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“My relationship with God is important to me. I felt I had to be nice to do that,” Griffith said. “But then I realized, glorifying God on the field means playing with as much intensity as I can. If I don’t go 100 percent because I'm trying to protect another player’s feelings, that’s not glorifying God. That kind of flipped the switch for me.”
Yes, high school football players still know about ‘The Andy Griffith Show’
Though the “The Andy Griffith Show” stopped filming in 1968 — 34 years before most high school seniors were born — young people still know it largely due to its many reruns.
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The show, which never placed lower than seventh in the Nielsen ratings and ended its final season at number one, was composed of 249 episodes running from 1960-68 and has been in syndication ever since. Reruns can still be found on TV Land, The CW, and SundanceTV. Myers, who graduated high school in 2018, has seen episodes of the show. MJCA senior receiver Hezekiah Amick said he has too.
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“Even at a 7-on-7 camp this summer, some guy who was a senior said, ‘Man, I love your name,’” Griffith said. “When I talk to refs or coaches, even players sometimes, they love my name.”
Reach sports writer Tyler Palmateer at [email protected] and on the X platform, formerly Twitter, @tpalmateer83.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: TSSAA football: Andy Griffith is Mayberry off the field, mayhem on it
