Hard to say exactly how massive KPGFootball-All-State-RT, Connor Deaton, from Breathitt County, really is. When we selected him to our sophomore All-State football team in 2019, we had him at 6-7, 340-pounds.
We are told he is even taller than that now. With a dad who is every bit of 6-9, this isn’t hard to believe.
What is hard to believe is that a kid his size can move his feet as well as he does, can run as well as he does, and is as coordinated as he is. That is what makes him special.
We have lots of bigs up in the Appalachia Mountains of Kentucky. We don’t have “bigs” as athletic as Connor Deaton and as long, tall, and massive. It is the combination which makes KPGFootball so gah-gah for this young lineman.
Not only that, he is a tremendous “finisher.” By “finisher,” in offensive line parlance, we mean he doesn’t just collide with a defender. He collides, drives the guy deep into the 2nd or 3rd level, and then deposits him through the turf, usually falling on top of the guy. You can literally hear his victim exasperate air from his lungs from being crushed all the way up in the stadium’s press-box.
We told a story from last year when we selected him to the All-State team that our E.Ky. scout was watching him run through a rope-ladder. He literally looked at Connor’s position coach and said, “This kid will play on Sundays.”
Connor is a returning fixture along the best offensive line in Kentucky High School football arguably, and the best in the 2A classification, and that isn’t really a question. Last year, with Connor and fellow sophomore All-Stater, Teegan Smith just sophomores, the line cleared the way for 3,092-yards rushing in only 308-carries.
Breathitt scored an incredible 67-rushing TDs in only 308-attempts for the most efficient TD:carry ratio in the commonwealth regardless of classification. The offense scored 88-TDs behind the “Wave” in only 415-plays. That is just sick.
Well, this offseason, Connor has been experiencing some swelling and fluid around his knee which has been seen by the good doctors at UK Sports Medicine. The doctors have told Connor it is likely a torn piece of cartilage floating around behind his kneecap.
We were able to talk with Connor’s mother. She told us the pretty fantastic news.
UK Sports Medicine is performing an MRI, this coming Monday, to make a final determination. However, the initial impression is they will be able to go in, laparoscopically, and remove the floating-cartilage.
Connor’s recovery time will only be 3-4 weeks. This puts him back in time for the opener against Hazard on the Riverbank.
There are lots of schools, even FBS-Power 5’s calling coach Kyle Moore about this young offensive lineman. At his height, he is slotted right where any school recruiting him would want to play him.
He is edge-protection at the next level. He is an offensive lineman too.
Can’t really play him inside, too-tall. He would mess up the inside throwing lane; unless your QB is a giant too.
However, with his feet and length, and in light of the kind of athlete he is, Connor Deaton is a dynamite tackle prospect. Good thing for Connor, every school in the country is constantly searching for those…including the country’s top-two conferences, the AFC and the NFC.
This is Coach HB Lyon, reporting for KPGFootball, and we’re JUST CALLING IT LIKE WE SEE IT!
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