FEATURED GUESTS

Event Speaker

Barrett Jones was born and raised in Memphis where he graduated from Evangelical Christian School. Jones was considered a four-star recruit by Rivals.com, and was listed as the No. 1 center in the nation in 2008. He received an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Alabama, where he played for coach Nick Saban’s Alabama Crimson Tide football team from 2008 to 2012. After redshirting his initial year at Alabama, Jones started all 14 games for Alabama’s 2009 national championship team at right guard. He was the winner of the 2011 Outland Trophy given to the best lineman in college football. Barrett ended his Alabama career winning 3 BCS National Championships—each Championship at a different position—as an All-American guard, an All-American right tackle and an AllAmerican center. In 2013, Jones was drafted by the Rams in the fourth round of the NFL Draft and proceeded to play in the NFL for 3 seasons. He currently lives in Memphis with his wife Katie and is an ESPN College Football Analyst. Barrett stays connected to his community through his involvement at ECS and membership at Harvest Church.

Event Hosts

GEOFF CALKINS has been entertaining and challenging Memphians in print, on the radio and on TV for 20 years. He’s been named best sports columnist in the country three times. He’s won five Green Eyeshade awards as the best sports columnist in the South. Calkins graduated from Harvard and Harvard Law School and then decided the legal business was not for him. Now as a fixture in the Memphis community you can catch him every morning from 9-10 am on the the Geoff Calkins Show on 92.9 FM. Calkins has three boys (ages 16, 13 and 11) and two large, shaggy Bernese Mountain Dogs.

GARY PARRISH is the award-winning national columnist for CBSSports.com, a regular on CBS College Sports, and the host of “The Gary Parrish Show with Geoff Calkins”on 92.9 FM ESPN. Before moving to CBSSports.com in July 2006, Gary spent seven years as a staff writer at The Commercial Appeal, where he mostly covered Memphis basketball. He is best known as the reporter who uncovered “The Albert Means Recruiting Scandal” that placed Alabama on probation and led to the conviction of Logan Young, the first booster ever convicted of a federal crime for essentially buying a prospect. Parrish is a native of Horn Lake and University of Memphis graduate, you can catch him on 92.9FM every afternoon from 4-6 pm.