Coach Bryan Holt passed away last Friday.NASHVILLE, Tenn. -
The Metro Jamboree is usually a final tune-up for coaches and players before the high school football season officially kicks off.
However, this year, it meant a lot more for the Maplewood High Panthers.
Before the first snap, family members of Coach Bryan Holt gathered at the 50-yard line for a moment of silence.
Holt, a victim of sickle cell anemia passed away Friday. He was 35-years-old.
"Coach Holt was the toughest man and one of the best coaches we've ever had at Maplewood," Cortez Adams, senior running back said.
Maplewood head coach Arcentae Broome told Nashville's News 2 that Holt was a father figure to many on the football team.
"Right now they just want to do a lot of things for him. It's not just football, [it's also] how they do in school, how they do at home with their parents. There's a lot of different things they want to change about themselves," Broome said.
Maplewood's players have embraced their late coach's hard-as-nails approach to living.
Before taking the field, players huddle together and shouted the words "Coach Holt Tough!"
"We all feel like family, because he cared for us like we were all his sons," said Adams.
Funeral services for Holt will be held Friday at 10 a.m. at Cathedral of Praise church.
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