Malaki Starks and the year that changed his life

Tracy Pratt saw her world come full circle in the middle of her classroom.

On one side of her stood Malaki Starks. Pratt taught the 2022 Georgia commit at Jefferson Middle School, and on Sept. 23, he dropped by her classroom for a surprise visit.

Opposite Starks stood another middle school boy, athletically gifted but still immature in many ways. Pratt had seen similar traits in Starks years earlier, and now she listened in amazement as Starks delivered life advice to the young man who very well could follow in his footsteps.

Starks has come a long way since he stood in those same shoes as a middle schooler. With Pratt's guidance, he became the person he is today both on and off the football field.

"Without her, if I didn’t have the good grades, I wouldn’t have the offer from Georgia, I wouldn’t be going to Georgia, I wouldn’t have the looks that I have," Starks said.

Pratt taught Starks in the sixth grade at Jefferson. She recalled that he came to her with a reputation of being a child that "kind of melted" when things didn't go his way.

But Pratt didn't see any of that. Instead, she observed a student who tried to make everyone feel important.

"He was really, really good at speaking to everyone, and kind to everybody," Pratt said. "Even the student who was not the athlete, not popular, whatever—he really reached out to those kinds of kids. You just felt his presence in the room. Not loud, not distracting, not that kind of way, but just very, ‘These are my people, I love my people; we’ve got this.’"

However, Starks acted at times like your typical middle school boy. He'd goof off in class. He said he rarely did his homework, and overall just didn't take school very seriously.

After one particularly egregious incident, Pratt pulled Starks aside. She told him he couldn't behave that way, that he had to treat people well and be a leader.

Starks' entire perspective changed after that day. The pair continued to have conversations throughout that sixth-grade year about how Starks needed to organize his priorities.

"We’re a sports family too, we love it. But I even talk to my own kids, school’s got to be first and the people that you love have to be first," Pratt said. "That was one of the major themes, I think, of that year with Malaki: school comes first. This is going to get you somewhere. Athletics will too, but you’ve got to do these things."

Pratt saw that attitude change in Starks. He studied more. He carved out time to attend tutoring sessions. The star athlete assumed a leadership role not just on the field, but in the classroom.

"I think he needed to have people that were teachers, that were in the educational system, who were saying to him, we’ve been there, we’ve done that," Pratt said. "We’ve seen kids think they’re going to play for the Braves, and it doesn’t happen. We’ve got to think about all the other stuff that comes before you even get to that level, and the hard work and the dedication and what it’s going to take."

Starks also felt that weight of stardom on his shoulders. He knew other kids at Jefferson looked up to him, and he realized he needed to act accordingly to set that example.

Fast forward to this fall, and Starks is in Pratt's class doing just that with another young athlete. He "poured into" that younger Dragon just like Pratt and others did for him years ago.

"What are you going to do? Are you going to take care of your family?" Pratt said. "Not basketball, what do you want to do with your life academically? Who are you taking care of? This is the conversation. I stood right in between them and I couldn’t believe it."

Pratt has seen that leadership continue to shine through despite Starks' growing status as a top recruit. She's watched him conduct interviews with a strong sense of humility, deflecting credit to his coaches and teammates. Starks continues to act as if he never met a stranger at Jefferson despite being a Georgia commit and one of the top high school football players in the country.

Back in middle school, Pratt emphasized to Starks that football won't last forever. He said that's a lesson that has stuck with him and one that more athletes should take to heart.

With his college career fast approaching, Starks has begun contemplating life after football.

"He’s like, gosh, someday I want to maybe own a business or go into business or have a college degree. I want to have something that I can call my own and it not just be football," Pratt said. "He wants something else beyond that. He just wants all those things."

Pratt has been there for Starks for years now. Now, it's his turn to be there for her.

That day he visited her classroom on Sept. 23, Pratt told Starks she had been diagnosed with cancer. She finished treatment that same day, but the news still came as a shock to Starks.

During his high school game the next night, Starks honored his former teacher with a pink headband and gloves.

"I’m going to be here for her, anything she needs," Starks said. "She can beat it, I believe it 100%. She was so positive about it. That’s what stood out to me. So just to see her go through that and just be so positive about who she is, she embraced it. That meant a lot to me."

Pratt said her long-term prognosis is "great." Despite being an Auburn grad, she's looking forward to putting on the red and black to watch Starks play in Sanford Stadium next year.

When that happens, most fans will see a very talented freshman learning the ropes of college football. But Pratt will see something different.

She will see the immature kid that came to her in sixth grade take the field as a grown man. As she continues to teach future star Jefferson athletes, she will feel immense pride at seeing one of her favorite past students continue his journey.

"He lived that," Pratt said. "He listened when people said you’ve got to be kind, you’ve got to do these things, you’ve got to make school a priority, you’ve got to love your family."