LOUISVILLE, Ga. --- The details of the incident linger with Shawanda Bostic, which is why she can still see the container of potash that should have killed her 11-month-old son.
The container, filled with a flaky form of the high-powered, potassium-loaded substance Bostic said she used to unclog drains, had a red devil on its label. It had been left outside during a rainstorm and transformed into a kind of sludge, all the easier for it to glide down B.J. Bostic's throat.
The curious child had discovered the potash while playing in the backyard. His mother whisked him away to a Jefferson County hospital and later to the Medical College of Georgia. Doctors told her B.J. would have died if they hadn't rushed in. The mixture he had swallowed burned his esophagus nearly to the brink of death.
"He's a miracle," Shawanda Bostic said. "I think about that a lot."
Shawanda Bostic quit her job and moved into the hospital to be with her son. Husband Barry Bostic, whom B.J. is named for, reenlisted in the Army to cover skyrocketing medical costs. B.J. stayed in the hospital for two months and celebrated his first birthday there that July 2. He was still being fed through a tube when he left.
The incident remains with B.J. today beyond the scar that runs the length of his abdomen, all the way to his belly button. Believing he has cheated death, B.J. has developed into a football player talented enough to earn scholarship offers from 23 schools heading into his senior season at Jefferson County.
Bostic, who is 5-foot-11, 175 pounds, will play mostly quarterback this season for the Warriors. That's what he's done the past two years, when he passed and rushed for more than 1,000 yards and led his team to the second round of the playoffs. In the previous 12 seasons the school played football, it had never won a playoff game.
This will be the last season Bostic plays quarterback, even though he will attend a school that favors rushing quarterbacks. He chose Georgia Tech because it plans to play him at cornerback. He believes defensive back is his best chance to play professionally.
"He really knew how to promote himself (to recruiters)," Jefferson County coach J.B. Arnold said. "He has a lot of God-given talent, but he has actively worked at getting himself recruited."
Arnold said Bostic understood what camps to attend, choosing the ones that would get him the most notice. Bostic is also blessed with a smooth athleticism and fearlessness that impresses recruiters even though he didn't play football until the fourth grade and broke his wrist so bad in one of his first games as a junior-varsity starter he has 10 screws and two metal plates buried in it.
At an invitation-only combine workout last winter in Texas, Bostic ran one of the fastest 40-yard dash times in the star-packed field. He had sprained his ankle in a basketball game earlier in the week and also had to cope with the anxiety of getting on a plane for the first time. He loosened up his ankle by sprinting up and down his hotel's hallway. At the combine, he ran a 4.52 laster-timed 40, as good as the top running backs and receivers at the event, he said.
"Everybody told me: Think what you would have done if you were healthy," Bostic said.
Bostic, who has already achieved a qualifying standardized test score, said he only needs to complete four classes to be eligible to enroll at Georgia Tech this winter: civics, trigonometry, English and art, which he sometimes leaves to lift weights.
He wants to play at Georgia Tech immediately.
THERE IS A shrine not to Georgia Tech but to the Georgia Bulldogs inside Bostic's room, at his house off the old U.S. Highway 1 near downtown Louisville. His bed is made with a red Georgia comforter, and he has tacked posters of Bulldogs players along the walls.
Bostic said Georgia has never offered him a scholarship. But after he committed to Georgia Tech early this summer -- West Virginia was a close second -- Bostic said Georgia coaches encouraged him to come to the team's summer camp, dangling the opportunity of earning an offer. Georgia Tech coaches bristled at this suggestion, and, according to Bostic, refused to let him attend.
"I think Georgia liked him more as a slot receiver and corner, while Tech liked him strictly as a corner," said Chad Simmons, who is a recruiting analyst for the Web site scout.com. "It's always a possibility Georgia could regret (not aggressively recruiting him). They may very well look back one day and say that."
Even though he supported Georgia as a child -- when he became enamored with quarterback D.J. Shockley -- Bostic says he is glad Georgia never offered him a scholarship. He said pressure from the community to attend the school would have been overwhelming.
Georgia Tech coaches are supposed to visit Bostic's house in November. They have heard about his bedroom decorations and hope it is stripped clean when they arrive, he said.
Bostic recently decorated himself with words that will last forever. He had his initials tattooed on the back of his arms, like LeBron James. He also had his full first name, Barry, and his last name tattooed in cursive across his inner biceps, like one of his favorite players, Tennessee defensive back Eric Berry.
"My family and I have been through a lot," he said. "They are always there for me."
Said Shawanda Bostic, "God gave him another chance. Everything is still a miracle to me."
B.J. BOSTIC
SCHOOL: Jefferson County
CLASS: Senior
POSITION: QB
HEIGHT/WEIGHT: 5-11/175
NOTABLE: Two-time all-area selection at Jefferson County, where he has started at quarteback since his sophomore season. ... Passed and rushed for more than 1,000 yards every season as a starter. ... Chose to attend Georgia Tech over scholarship offers from 22 other schools.
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