The Detroit Martin Luther King High School football staff has known new West Virginia running back commitment Martell Pettaway for nearly twelve years, but they will not have coached him on the field until this fall.

Beginning in 2004, Pettaway served as the ball boy at Martin Luther King High, where his older brother, Devinne was a standout defensive player that led the school to a state championship in 2007.

Unfortunately, Devinne's story didn't end in triumph.

"Martell's brother had a seizure about two months after that state championship game and he passed away in our high school building," said King assistant coach Terel Patrick. "That's the reason why Martell wasn't a King Crusader from day-one."

For a brother and parents, this tragedy was extremely difficult to overcome for the Pettaway family, so they moved north to a town outside of Detroit.

"It was just such a hard grieving process for the family," Patrick said. "Seeing the building everyday was too much for the mother. She didn't want to bring Martell here when he started the ninth grade."

Pettaway ended up playing for St. Clair Shores' South Lake High School. He rushed 1337 yards and 13 touchdowns there last fall as a junior.

He succeeded immensely on the football field and was still a top high school prospect, but it wasn't enough. The five-foot-ten, 210-pound bruiser of runner wanted to return to where he was supposed to play his football.

"They're family to us, so we told them we'd always be there for Martell no matter what," Patrick said. "We got a call about six months ago saying that the family is moving back to Detroit and Martell wants to finish his career at the same school where his brother won a state title."

Now the younger brother will wear number 32, in honor of his late older brother. The school had retired the jersey number, which belonged to the older brother but since Pettaway is back, they'll respect his wishes of wanting to wear it.

On the field, Pettaway returned to a group of teammates that were all childhood friends of his.

He had no problem fitting in alongside talented prospects like Rivals100 receiver Donnie Corley, Penn State commitment Lavert Hill and Central Michigan commitment Leon Page.

"We though we were a year away last year and with the addition of Martell moving back here to Detroit, he's really that missing piece of a dominant running back," Patrick added. "We expect big things out of our kids this year."

Reggie Wynns is the man in charge of Rising Stars Recruiting in Michigan, where he preps high schools players for the next level.

Over the weekend, he was in Morgantown with a group of athletes camping at West Virginia. Wynns has trained Pettaway before and feels he not only can make a huge impact at his new high school, but ultimately fit in right away at West Virginia.

"He (Pettaway) is a very elusive running back. He has good feet and I think he'll be able to compete well at that level. He has a good head on him too," said Wynns. "He's perfect for that offense too because he has good hands and can run the ball well."

Patrick seconded Wynns' thoughts.

"The diversity of Martell is what's important. He can run it inside or outside. Whether it's the power run game or outside zone or stretch, he'll be a good fit for that system," Patrick said. "He has the hands of a receiver, so that skill set possibly where he can be a three-down back at the next level is something he brings to West Virginia."

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