
Submitted photo Coach Justin Palmer was introduced as the new head coach for the Forrest Rocket football program.
By Chris Siers
csiers@bedfordcountypost.com
Football has always had strong family ties for Justin Palmer.
From helping his dad on the sidelines as a kid, to building a family with each team he’s been part of, football is family.
That family mindset helped Palmer make a return to Middle Tennessee as he was named the head coach for the Forrest Rockets last month.
“It’s great to be back in this area. We knew at some point we needed to get back in this area. This is a place I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t at the top of the list. Very thankful to be at Forrest and back in the area,” he said.
Palmer spent several years coaching at neighboring Shelbyville Central, before spending the past four seasons at Obion Central.
But the pull back to the mid-state eventually brought the new Rocket skipper close to his coaching roots.
The allure of returning to a tradition-rich school like Forrest was all too appealing for Palmer, who hopes to return the Rockets to being a perennial deep playoff team, although things may look a bit different on the field this fall.
“I’ve been a spread guy, but it’s like I told the players when I first met them. We have the state record for most passing yards in a game, but we also have the state record for most carries by a single person in a playoff game. We’re going to do whatever we need to do to give the team the best chance to win. They have been a Wing-T traditionally. They’re always known for that. It will be a big change, but it seems to be a welcomed change,” he said.
Palmer’s offense looks to shake things up from a run-heavy Wing-T look, to more of a downfield passing game.
“It will be a big change, but I think they have the guys here to do it. I think it will be fun to do it. At Obion, it was a very similar situation when i first got there. They had been running the Veer Option under center. They had never taken shotgun snaps and receivers primarily blocked,” he said.
While there may be change coming on the field, one thing that won’t change among Palmer’s programs is the family atmosphere on the sidelines.
“I want my son to graduate from here. That was attractive to know that when he gets into seventh grade, he will be in school with me. That’s really cool to me. It’s neat to be able to have such an impact on the middle school program, where I’ve not really had a chance to do that in the past because I’m coming from a place where we had four feeder schools,” he said.
“Getting all of them on the same page is difficult. Here, it’s not going to be a problem because they’re in the same building as me. So I can see those kids and build that relationship every day.”
Going back to when his dad was a coach, Palmer joined him on the sidelines as a kid and now gets to experience a new family dynamic, as his dad will be joining the staff as an assistant, in addition to his son helping out as the ball boy.
“It goes back to that time period when I can remember being on the sidelines with him when I was a kid. It’s really special because my son is able to be the ball boy now. All three of us being together on the sideline on Friday night is so cool. Football is a family thing to me. It goes way back. I loved playing. I had a great high school experience as a player. We want to win, but we want to give each high school player a great experience,” he said.
Another key component for Palmer is building team chemistry, which is a key fundamental for a successful program.
“Team chemistry is the most important thing to me. I don’t feel like you can have a great football team without good team chemistry. Starting to build that and starting to make the changes we want to make.”
While Palmer has made several stops in his coaching career, Forrest is the smallest school he’s coached at thus far, but the draw of small-town football isn’t something new to him.
“That’s how I grew up in Alabama—small town, just like this. Great tradition there. That’s how I’ve always envisioned it as a coach. I’m excited to be here because I’ve heard nothing but good things about the support,” he said.
While things may look a little different in the months leading up to kickoff this August, the vision of building the Rockets into a state contender remains the same.
“I think everyone needs to embrace change. It starts with the offense. We’re going to do things differently with the offense, but it’s going to be across the board. We’re doing things differently. Let’s get back to producing that type of success, but we’re going to take a different route to get there,” Palmer said.