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December 1, 2021

2021 SEC Football Community Service Team Announced

By: SEC Staff
SECU (Twitter: @TheSECU)

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The Southeastern Conference on Wednesday announced the Community Service Team for the sport of football prior to the SEC Championship Game to be played Saturday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

The SEC names a Community Service Team for each of its 21-league sponsored sports, looking to highlight an athlete from each school who gives back to his community through superior service efforts.

The 2021 SEC Football Community Service Team is as follows:

Phidarian Mathis, Alabama

Phidarian Mathis participated in the 2021 Nick’s Kids Habitat for Humanity home build and has been a regular speaker at the Tuscaloosa County Juvenile Detention Center. He also distributed school supplies to his hometown school district in Franklin Parrish (Louisiana) and hosted youth flag football game in his hometown of Wisner, La. Mathis also participates in Alabama’s youth reading program, traveling to elementary classrooms around the community to read to students.

Jordan Silver, Arkansas

Jordan Silver volunteers with numerous charities and organizations in Northwest Arkansas, including the Salvation Army, Boys & Girls Club, NWA Children’s Hospital, Ambassadors of Compassion, Big Brothers & Big Sisters and the Little Rock Air Force Veterans.

Chandler Wooten, Auburn

Chandler Wooten has read to students at Dean Road Elementary School and Ogletree Elementary School and has served as a guest speaker and Bible study leader at FCA camps and worship. Other activities include: Auburn Parks and Rec youth sports mentor internship; volunteer at Special Olympics baseball in Kennesaw, Ga.; Light of Hope homeless outreach in Marietta, Ga.; FFCA Hard-Fighting Soldier campus award; Boys and Girls Club events volunteer; organized Zoom Bible studies for Auburn FCA students during quarantine; and member of Auburn Athletics task force on Inclusion and Race Relations.

Zachary Carter, Florida

Zachary Carter has volunteered more than 30 hours of community service, including stints with the Gators Track Delivery, Gridiron Challenge, Brain Break, Gators Mentor, JJ Finley Elementary School, Boys and Girls Club, FB Takeover Terwilliger Elementary School, Baby Gators, Friday Night Lights Football Camp, UF Football Women’s Clinic and PK Yonge Virtual Franchise. He recently facetimed for over an hour with a youth Gator fan who is battling cancer.

Nakobe Dean, Georgia

Nakobe Dean was named to the 2021 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team and worked with “Dawgs for Pups” which is the Georgia football program’s multi-faceted effort to directly affect the lives of local youth in the Athens/Clarke County area. He also visited Camp Sunshine, which provides recreational, educational and support programs for children with cancer and their families. Other community service activities include: participated in Bulldogs Battling Breast Cancer Golf Tournament, which is designed to raise awareness and money for research for a cure to breast cancer; and helped with Read Across America, which is a program for local school children as part of the national program where civic groups and community leaders volunteer their time to read a story to students at Barrow Elementary.

Kenneth Horsey, Kentucky

Kenneth Horsey has used his comeback story as a platform for teaching about heart health after surviving open-heart surgery and the loss of 50 pounds as a senior in high school. He has done numerous volunteer events on behalf of the Lexington chapter of the American Heart Association. Horsey planned and coordinated a hands-only CPR training for the UK football team and staff and helped plan and participate in a hands-only CPR media availability that promoted CPR Awareness Month. Horsey spoke at the Central Kentucky Heart Walk kickoff event, the UK Healthcare Heart Walk kickoff event and participated in American Heart Month and National Wear Red Day and the Central Kentucky Heart Walk Digital Experience. He was a nominee for the Danny Wuerffel Trophy presented to the top community servant in college football.

Avery Atkins, LSU

Avery Atkins has served as a big buddy mentor and makes routine visit to Our Lady of the Lake Hospital. He was presented jersey No. 18 in 2021, which is given to the player that best represents the program – on the field, in the classroom and in the community. Atkins was the LSU Athletics Male Leadership Award winner in 2020 and is a member of the SEC Football Leadership Council.

Mac Brown, Ole Miss

Mac Brown started a lemonade stand, Awesome Lemonade Stand, in Eden Prairie, Minn., with a modest goal of raising $500 for a childhood friend’s dad who had been diagnosed with ALS. Ten years later, that $500 goal has ballooned to over $145,000 raised by Brown and his friends for ALS research. The Awesome Lemonade Stand is held on a late day in June and the 2021 fundraiser raised nearly $45,000 alone. Brown has also participated in many community service activities around the Oxford and Mississippi area including: Student-Athlete Advisory Council, Sweetheart for residents at The Blake in Oxford, Reading with the Rebels, Hope to Dream and Special Olympics.

Austin Williams, Mississippi State

Austin Williams is a member of the M-Club, the community service club for scholar-athletes. He is also a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, which represents and provides a voice for all student-athletes at Mississippi State University. He served on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic through Pinelake Church and visited the Batson Children’s Hospital & Palmer Home for Children to spend time with the children. Williams went to the Emerson Family School to read books and short stories to the children and served as a volunteer through Faithworks for Vacation Bible School with local elementary children.

Tyler Badie, Missouri

Tyler Badie earned his bachelor’s degree in sport management, in spring 2021, with a GPA of 3.83. He is in his first semester as a graduate student, pursuing a master’s in athletic administration and positive coaching. A two-time CoSIDA Academic All-District section, he was a 2021 AFCA Good Works Team, Wuerffel Trophy and Campbell Trophy nominee. He totals more than 150 hours of community service during his time as a Tiger.

Spencer Eason-Riddle, South Carolina

Spencer Eason-Riddle was one of 30 candidates for the prestigious Senior CLASS Award, a semifinalist for the Campbell Trophy and was nominated for the Wuerffel Trophy. Eason-Riddle owns two degrees, graduating in May 2019 with a bachelor’s degree in public health and in May 2021 with a master’s degree in health services policy and management. He has been a regular at the Dorn VA Medical Center and the oncology center of the Prisma Health Children’s Hospital among other community service

endeavors. He founded and developed the “Sandstorm Buddies Program” which matches student-athletes with cancer patients and their families, where they can serve in a mentor capacity. He also spearheaded a shoe drive in 2021, asking fellow student-athletes and staff to donate lightly worn shoes and cleats to the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Midlands so they can be used by area middle or high school students. He has been on the SEC Community Service team in 2017, ’18, ’19 and ’20. He was recognized as the 2021 SEC Brad Davis Community Service Award winner and was a member of the 2019 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team.

Matthew Butler, Tennessee

Matthew Butler is a team leader on and off the field who earned his undergraduate degree in political science. He was a member of the 2018-19 VOLeaders Academy that visited Rwanda and was a recipient of the 2021 NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship and a nominee for the 2020 SEC McWhorter award. Other community service activities include: Habitat for Humanity – assisted in the construction of a local home for a family in need; Emerald Youth Foundation – spent time playing with children who were a part of their summer programming; Interfaith Clinic – delivered cakes around Knoxville as part of a fundraising effort for the clinic; Race Against Racism – worked a check point during the race; Read to Lead – read to elementary aged children; the event is aimed at encouraging literacy and lifelong reading; East Tennessee Children’s Hospital visits. He is a four-time member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll and was a nominee for the 2021 Wuerffel Trophy

Keldrick Carper, Texas A&M

Keldrick Carper has worked with Twin City Mission in Bryan where he served meals and helped clean up around the campus for those less fortunate. He also helped established a student-athlete group BLUEprint. It stands for Black Leaders who Undertake Excellence in all things. The group has been well received on the Texas A&M campus and Carper is in a leadership role.

Elijah McAllister, Vanderbilt

Elijah McAllister has been a leader with Turner’s Heroes, an organization founded in memory of late Vanderbilt football player Turner Cockrell. Cockrell died in 2018 following a battle with cancer and Turner’s Heroes was founded to support cancer research while helping pediatric patients remember they are true superheroes. Above and beyond the financial impact, Turner’s Heroes connects athletes with patients, holding superhero-themed parties in children’s hospitals throughout the nation. McAllister is a member of this year’s Allstate AFCA Good Works Team. He is one of four SEC members on this year’s Good Works Team marking a nation-best 80 selections from the conference since the team was established in 1992.