‘Leaving a legacy’: Columbus defensive tackle’s drive has Explorers back in state final
When Miami Columbus senior defensive tackle Derrick Hart is determined, he has a way of willing things into existence.
When Hart was only a freshman starting high school at Columbus, he walked into the office of the school’s Student Activities Committee director Kim Brown with a simple request.
“He said, ‘I’d like to be the freshman class president,’” Brown said. “At first I was like, we don’t normally do that, but if you want to be a leader, of course I would like to foster that.”
A short time later, Hart was elected, and has been president of his class each year since.
A year ago, Hart walked up to longtime Columbus defensive coordinator Alex Trujillo moments after the Explorers were eliminated from the state semifinals at Venice High.
“Coach, we’re not going to let this happen again, he told me,” Trujillo said. “‘Next year,’ he said. ‘We’re going to be playing for the state championship.’”
It has been a year, and Hart again accomplished a goal he set out to do as Saturday night he will lead the Explorers’ defense against Apopka in the Class 4M state final at 7 p.m. at DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale.
“Everyone always has that moment where they might say something like that, but when we were behind against Ocoee at halftime [in the state semifinal two weeks ago], I brought it up to him,” Trujillo said. “I was like, I remember what you said to me. And he again said, ‘Coach, we’re going to be OK.’”
You won’t find Hart (6-2, 260 pounds) listed high on many football recruiting lists like some of his teammates on Columbus’ roster.
But what he has brought is the maturity and leadership that’s helped the Explorers go 13-1 this year and come within one win of securing the school’s second ever state title and second in four seasons.
Hart began his high school career as an offensive guard but made the move to the defensive side of the ball his junior year. He has since become a force in the middle of that Columbus defensive front.
“When he got involved in wrestling, it really brought out his aggressiveness on the field, and it helped his technique improve in terms of how he uses his hands and his balance, everything, he’s improved so much,” Trujillo said.
This season, Hart has 32 tackles, four sacks and a forced fumble.
While those aren’t gaudy numbers, it’s the impact he’s made on and off the field as a leader that Columbus values the most. Hart’s discipline and presence will be vital against an Apopka team, which has one of the most potent rushing offenses in the state.
“He speaks with a commanding voice,” Trujillo said. “He doesn’t really need to get loud. He says what needs to be said and the other kids respect him and listen. He’s never too high or too low. He’s our leader on the defensive line.”
Hart said he learned those leadership qualities from his mother, Adrian Horner. It helped him go from being an average student when he started high school to apply himself at everything he does.
“As a kid my mom told me, ‘leave your legacy now,’” Hart said. “I try to make strides on that every day.”
Driven by his mom’s message, Hart has become one of the most well-rounded student-athletes at Columbus.
In addition to being the class president, Hart is a four-year starter on the Columbus football team, a 3.0 student, a state placer in the heavyweight class of the Explorers’ wrestling team, who earned second-team All-Dade honors last season, and involved in campus ministry at the school.
“Anything you can think of, he involves himself in,” Brown said. “He is personable and he’ll talk to anybody. He will see a kid having a hard time and he will go talk to them. He is an all-around great kid and the type of student you always hope you have.”
Hart also helped start a Black student organization at Columbus.
His involvement continues and has now expanded to helping students from many different ethnicities and backgrounds.
“It started from a thought to something we actually started doing,” Hart said. “It means a lot to everyone on campus because it’s not just focused on Black students, it’s focused on real-world problems and issues that affect everyone. A different mindset for everyone so you can understand everybody.”
Hart’s charismatic personality hasn’t just made him popular with fellow students or teammates, but even an ambassador for Columbus.
When the school hosts the mothers of prospective students on tours of the school, Hart is often the most requested tour director of the campus.
“Anything you can think of, he involves himself in,” Brown said. “He is personable and he’ll talk to anybody. He will see a kid having a hard time and he will go talk to them. He is an all-around great kid and the type of student you always hope you have.”
Hart’s athletic gifts come from his family, which is replete with talented former athletes. He has four uncles who played at either the college or pro level — Thomas Rayam, who played in the NFL and CFL in the early 1990s, Alonzo Horner, who played on Florida State’s first national championship team in 1993, and Zack and Henri Crockett, also Seminoles alumni.
But Hart credits his grandfather, Alfonzo Horner, a former defensive end at George Washington Carver High School who played for the great Nathaniel “Traz” Powell in the 1960s, as his biggest influence in becoming a football player and the student-athlete he is today.
“I wasn’t going to play football as a kid, and he said, ‘Oh yes, you are,’” Hart said. “We would work every day in the front yard, back yard, the parks, different drills on offense and defense. If I ever need any advice, he’s the first person I call.”
Hart hopes to make his grandfather proud this weekend if he can finish his Columbus football career as a state champion.
Hart is still figuring out the next step though.
His efforts in high school have opened up plenty of options.
If you ask Brown, she wouldn’t be surprised if he became a mentor or educator for young students like him.
If you ask Trujillo or other of his coaches, they wouldn’t be surprised if one day he ran for office.
Hart thinks he might end up doing a slight mix of both.
“I think I might come back to Columbus in a leadership position or just teaching,” Hart said. “My dream is to open a school like Columbus and call it Legacy High School, and be an entrepreneur, of course. I want to go toward the business/political science aspect of what I study in college. But I want to open up a school that represents what Columbus does.”
It probably wouldn’t be smart to doubt that Hart could one day realize that goal too.
This story was originally published December 16, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
