Stephen B. Morton for The New York Times
One day after a practice in early September, Isaiah Waller and his football teammates at Atlanta’s Booker T. Washington High School were told by their coach, Derrick Avery, to join a video conference call. When they logged on later that night, up popped the faces of three Atlanta Falcons players — Ricardo Allen, Alex Mack and Steven Means.
Stunned to see players from their hometown N.F.L. team, the 30 or so teenagers were even more surprised by what they were there to tell them: Nothing about the x’s and o’s of the game, but to work at the polls on Election Day.