There is no better time than the present to anoint another Independence Bank player of the week. Independence Bank is proud to sponsor a weekly article highlighting players in the areas where Independence Bank flourishes who embody the same type of revolutionary service to their respective football teams which has made Independence Bank unique and special in thebanking industry. Independence Bank has a goal of achieving everyday excellence, and this week we are focusing on a player whose performance this coming season will exceed the Mustang and the Paducah, Kentucky community’s expectations. We are focusing on the class of 2020 running back, Franklin Hayes, from McCracken County High School right down the road from three Independence Bank branches located on 3143 Broadways Street; 2711 New Holt Road; and 3312 Lone Oak Road all in the Paducah area.
I am going to let you in on a little secret as preseason polls have either been published or are set to be published within the next 24 to 48 hours all over Kentucky. We voters, as KPGFootball has already published its own preseason poll and votes on the Associated Press poll set to be released, study statistics and pour over data and rosters but that information accessed (which is all we have) is inherently flawed. Franklin Hayes is an excellent example why. If you look at the Mustangs, here is what the data tells us. They were 7-5 last year, rushed for 2,027 yards as a team, and, when TayShawn Allen graduated in 2018, the Mustangs’ ground forces lost over 50 percent of its ground production (Allen ran for 1,280 yards in 2017) and 16 of its 31 TDs scored rushing. The running back left behind to carry the load, rising Junior Franklin Hayes, gained a modest 238 yards as a sophomore and scored a seemingly paltry 5 rushing TDs. So the Mustangs are going to be in big trouble in 2018, right?
Well, it just isn’t as easy as that. You see, Hayes, about whom McCracken’s team page, for the 2017 season, failed to even list either a picture, any of his physical dimensions, or even a position, is going to be fantastic for the Mustangs this coming season. Now KPGFootball had a scout at the McCracken County-Hopkinsville High School scrimmage game this past Friday and, assuming that No. 5 at that scrimmage was Hayes and not Warrick Dunn slipped on the roster to emulate him, Hayes ran all over the Tiger D, either from scrimmage or catching passes out of the backfield. There were no “official statistics” but our guy told us Hayes had to have rushed for in the neighborhood of 150 yards from scrimmage alone. You see, that manifests the problem with preseason rankings. JV and Freshman football are wholly uncovered anywhere but on KPGFootball, and our coverage is dependent on coach collaboration, so we really don’t know whether the running back taking Allen’s place in the 2018 Mustang backfield is as good, better, or pathetically worse than the player he is replacing. In this instance, it would appear Hayes will fill in for the departed TaeShawn Allen rather nicely and the Mustangs probably won’t suffer either much or any for the difference.
Congratulations to Franklin Hayes for his Revolutionary Play which has earned him this week’s recognition from the fastest growing bank in the Commonwealth of Kentucky…your friends at Independence Bank.
This is Fletcher Long reporting for KPGFootball reminding you to PLAY THROUGH THE WHISTLE!
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