Joshua Hale Jr. plays with a motor you typically don’t see in high school sports.

Simply stated, he loves football.

He loves it so much that last year it asked him to do something he had never done before—board an airplane headed to Los Angeles to test his skills against the best in the country.

This may not seem like a big deal as the country is littered with skill camps held by colleges, famous players, and brands, all looking for the next big thing.

Yet for a player who once practiced with a roster too small to field a scout team, the invitation offered the Offense-Defense program gave Hale a chance to see how good he really was. Hale had grown up playing eight- and nine-man football. After his first season playing 11-man at Strong Rock Christian, he was headed to a stadium shared by two NFL teams.

He then racked up a dozen tackles and a safety, earning defensive MVP honors. Since then, Hale has been a 2x All-American in Football (Offense-Defense), an All-American in Football (Exact Sports), an All-American for the Peach State Gridiron Classic, and has received an Army Bowl invitation and a highly coveted Make That Kid an Offer nomination by GPB.

Not bad for someone who once played on a team that didn't know week to week if they had enough players for practice.

That trip to SoFi belongs in the recruiting pitch, but so do the tackles, the film, and the work Hale has put into studying the middle linebacker position. When he considers where to spend the next four years, the question isn’t whether he’ll have a place on the roster, whether he'll start, or how much NIL money he’ll receive.

The biggest question is whether he can prepare for a life in ministry there, too.

Hale wants to keep playing football. He also believes he has been called to preach. Finding a college means figuring out where those ambitions can grow together.

At home, they already have.

His father is a pastor, a former middle linebacker, and Hale’s former coach. They watch film together, and his dad edits the clips sent to college coaches. His mother, who also plays her role as momager, plays piano, which makes practice convenient as Hale leads music at their church. 

Faith, family, and football have given him people to learn from—and, increasingly, people counting on him.

His teammates call him “Rev,” after the character in Remember the Titans. However, it has been rumored that a writer (who will not be named) has suggested “Minister of Defense” as an alternative.

At Strong Rock, he helps line up the defense before the snap. At school and church, he leads worship. Since feeling called to preach in tenth grade, he has spoken at churches, youth gatherings, and school. Hale is still a teenager making decisions about his future. He is also gaining practice helping others find their footing.

That responsibility developed on a football field where there were few opportunities to stand around. At his previous school, Hale joined varsity in eighth grade. As a freshman, he remembers a roster of about 17 players. He played offense and defense. Some practices lacked enough players to put a scout team opposite the starters.

When he transferred to Strong Rock before his junior season, the game grew around him. There were more players to account for, a new defense to learn, and a move from defensive end to middle linebacker. Spring practices left him sore in ways his old practices had not.

“I had no clue what I was doing, my first game my junior year,” he said. “I just somehow ran around and made plays.”

He finished his junior season with 131 tackles. This fall, he recorded 95 through the end of Strong Rock’s regular season.

Strong Rock competes in the Georgia Independent Athletic Association, outside the GHSA programs that dominate much of the conversation about Georgia high school football. The SoFi invitation gave Hale a chance to compete beyond his usual opponents. Earning defensive MVP gave him something to bring back.

At Strong Rock, his progress now includes recognizing formations and tendencies that once were unfamiliar. He teaches younger teammates what last year's seniors taught him. 

"Joshua's character speaks louder than his play.  I think that is why he has become such a key leader in our program," said Brad Bowles, head football coach at Strong Rock Christian. "Joshua really  cares about the guys in our program and genuinely wants them to succeed."

It's his leadership, along with his play on the field, that has begun to draw attention. In his junior year, he racked up 131 tackles, and in his senior year, 95 in the regular season. Not to say his production went down, because this year you'd see him lining up in the backfield at fullback at times.

"I think his ability to read and react to a play is what sets him apart," Coach Bowles added. "Once the ball has been committed to the run or pass, he has a knack for finding the ball and making plays."

And it's some of those plays and tackles that colleges hope to add to their rosters as recruiting trips begin and several coaches have started sliding into his DMs.

Hale is keeping his options open, but his current top priority is Christian colleges where he can study Christian or pastoral ministry. Football matters in that search, but so does the chance to prepare for the work he believes he is meant to do.

Back home, that work already has a familiar sound: his mother at the piano, the two of them practicing before he leads the church in music. Hale sings and plays piano, guitar, bass, and organ, and he even plays violin. That last one may have a flex, but there is still more to develop here and a family helping him do it.