Niko Goodrum during a West Forsyth High School football game last season. — Photo by Dylan Williamson.

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By Jay Spivey

For the Clemmons Courier

If a person had no knowledge of Niko Goodrum when he was a freshman at West Forsyth, they probably wouldn’t have guessed that Goodrum was a two-sport athlete in football and baseball.

Now, as Goodrum is about to enter his senior year as a Titan, they might look at him and see the obvious change.

According to Goodrum, he was 5-foot-7 and 135 pounds as a freshman. Now, he says he’s 6-1 and 190 pounds. That extra size has helped him as a linebacker on the football team as it’s about to embark on another season next month. It’s also helped him as an outfielder and third baseman for the Titans’ baseball team that just finished its season in May.

“I think I’ve gotten a lot more physical with the size I’ve put on,” Goodrum said. “And I’ve been able to play the game (of football) a lot better.”

For some people in high school that much of a growth spurt can be awkward, but not for Goodrum.

“It was definitely a good thing,” he said. 

Of course, not all of it was growing. There was a science behind how much he picked up some weight. Even last year as a junior on the football team, he said he was playing at 175.

“It was lifting and eating a lot more, which I wasn’t used to because I didn’t ever really want to put on weight,” Goodrum said. 

Coach Kevin Wallace, who is entering his third season as the head coach for the West Forsyth football team, saw that Goodrum had to put on some weight to maximize his talent.

“I’ve definitely gotten a lot stronger,” Goodrum said. “(Wallace’s) weight room is definitely a lot more intense. I think that we started winning a little bit more just because I think the practices and stuff he has.”

Wallace was hired in December of 2022, which was right after Goodrum’s freshman season ended.

“He’s really developed from where we first saw him,” Wallace said. “His freshman year was the year I got there, so it was in the offseason. And just what he’s developed from that to his sophomore year, his junior year, now going into his senior year, he committed to the weight room, he committed putting weight on. It just shows now with everything he’s put into the last three or four years.”

There could’ve been a stigma attached to him as a freshman because of how small he was, but that didn’t stop him from trying to excel.

“It was only JV and I was playing safety,” Goodrum said. “They knew me because I played, too. So, they’d seen me move I guess.”

This issue has been how Goodrum would be able to balance the demands of trying to play two sports.

“I think it’s awesome,” Wallace said. “You get them out, you don’t have to just hear one voice. The one I always said is you love them to play all sports, but they’ve just got to keep lifting throughout the year. You can’t be taking months off and falling behind. 

“And that’s evident in every sport either in college, high school, all that now. Where these kids want to go play you’re going to see year-round lifting.”

Doing that requires a strong work ethic.

“It’s just getting into that habit of, hey, this is what the demand’s going to be no matter what sport you’re going to play in college,” Wallace said. 

Lifting has also helped Goodrum with recovery the day after a football game.

“I remember my first game on varsity I was really sore in like the trap and back and neck area because I hadn’t been used to hitting as much, especially those bigger guys,” Goodrum said. “But now that I’ve gained weight I don’t really feel anything that much. I’ll wake up on a Saturday and I’ll feel pretty much perfect.”

The extra weight and strength has also necessitated a change in position on the football field.

“Even when he was on JV for us he played outside linebacker,” Wallace said. “We thought he was definitely good enough. When he came up to varsity moved him as an inside backer. He put the weight on.

“I mean, he was like 195 almost, maybe even a little bit more than that. And he could still move. He would hit people, would fill gaps. It was a little bit of a new position for him.”

There was nothing wrong with how Goodrum was playing. However, Wallace and the rest of the coaching staff saw more.

“I think on the outside (linebacker) he could’ve been fine for us,” Wallace said. “He excelled when we moved him inside. We think that’s an even better position for him. And it worked out this past year. He had a great year.”

For Goodrum, moving from safety as a freshman on JV to now as a linebacker on varsity wasn’t the easiest of transitions.

“It was hard at first because I’ve never played linebacker,” Goodrum said. “I was almost playing it like a safety instead of going downhill and stuff like that. I was more of a coverage player.”

It just shows how good of an athlete Goodrum is.

“He’s quick enough to cover backs and crossers and underneath stuff, which is huge in a pass game,” Wallace said. “He’s physical enough to come down and read guards and running backs, and fill and play physical in the box, which is the big thing. He’s not tentative with it. His speed at that position is very good. It’s very, very good, which is huge.”

It was all about learning from the coaches and watching film.

“I had to learn to like to attack the run more instead of always wanting to guess, pick and stuff like that,” Goodrum said. 

Although it’s just a rung up on a defensive scheme on a field, he still had the mentality of his previous position.

“I think coming from a safety perspective I was a lot better in the pass than the other linebackers,” he said. “I think that really helped me a lot. All I had to do was learn the run part.”

The schooling seems to have worked for the rising senior.

“I think I’ve adapted to it very well,” Goodrum said. “About halfway through last season is when I started really picking it up.”

Combine the poaching he’s received and the time he’s put in the weight room, it’s all paying dividends.

“I think I’ve gotten a lot more physical with the size I’ve put on,” Goodrum said. “I’ve been able to play the game a lot better.”

Then there is baseball, which Goodrum said he’s been playing since he was 5 years old.

“It’s always been a sport that I’ve always wanted to pursue, especially into college,” he said. “I just like it the most.”

Because Goodrum plays high school baseball and travel ball he hasn’t had the chance to devote 100 percent of his efforts to football. However, he has stuck to Wallace’s plan and it’s paying off.

“He likes baseball. He likes football,” Wallace said. “He succeeded in both. We think he has potential, if he stays healthy and does what he’s done we think he can be an all-conference player. You know, and he’s been able to balance both, which is huge. (He has) the baseball demands in the summer, and even in the offseason in springtime. Summer’s a big time where it coexists with football. 

“You know, he’s there. He’s got baseball some days. He’s got football some days. But he’s there.”

Wallace and Kevin McIntosh, the head baseball coach for the Titans, have worked together to help devise a schedule for Goodrum.

“When it’s baseball season it’s full-(bore) baseball,” Wallace said. “We have lift during the day, so that works out. He’s at weightlifting, at least the last two years. So, that’s been a good deal that he could balance it. We work around his game schedule and stuff like that. So, that’s an easy thing.” 

The main thing for Goodrum is finding the time to get in his work for one sport while he’s in-season with another.

“Sometimes I have a hard time training for baseball during football season and vice versa,” Goodrum said. “So, I definitely see why people only focus on one sport.”

For Goodrum, he knows no other way.

“I definitely don’t think people see how hard it is to be a two-sport athlete and how much time it takes up,” he said. 

Summer travel ball for Wow Factor in baseball is quickly coming to an end.

(Summer) has gone by really fast, especially playing summer ball and stuff like that,” Goodrum said. “I’ve been doing a lot of baseball. We travel a lot. We just got back from Atlanta.”

However, the first available date for football teams in the NCHSAA to practice is July 30.

“He’s an energetic kid. He’s going to play with passion,” Wallace said of Goodrum. “We fully believe he can be an all-conference kid if he takes the next step that he did, that he put on paper last year, or put in film last year. When he steps up this year we feel he’s an all-conference caliber kid and see where it goes at the end of the season. 

“But I think he can be a leader for us. I think he’s going to be energetic and create some emotion on the defensive side and get our kids excited with some energy.”

That growth, both physically and how Goodrum has developed in learning his position have come a long way.

“That’s the type of kid we think we thought he was last year,” Wallace said. “We saw it and we think he’ll develop even more now.”

The schedule has West Forsyth traveling to play on Aug. 22 at Davie County in a nonconference game to start the season. The final regular-season game is scheduled for Oct. 31 in Clemmons against Parkland in a conference game.

“I think we’ve been preparing a lot this summer,” Goodrum said. “We did a lot of agility stuff, weightlifting. So, I think when practice comes, I think we’ve almost been doing summer like practice so we’re already ready for it and prepared.”

No matter what happens with the Titans in football this fall, Goodrum is already thinking about baseball with the Titans next spring.

“I definitely want to be an all-conference guy for baseball and win states because we’ve lost in (the) fourth round two years in a row,” Goodrum said. 

No matter what happens in his senior year at West Forsyth Goodrum knows what he wants in college.

“I think I would probably favor baseball, but I would be open to doing both,” he said. 

Much like learning something in class, Goodrum has learned from playing two sports at West Forsyth.

“It gives life lessons along with just playing a sport,” he said. “It definitely teaches you about ‘when things get tough’ kind of thing, and also I feel like you just learn a lot from sports.”