Remember the “which one of these doesn’t look like the other” puzzles? KPGFootball got the privilege of getting to watch the Todd County Central and Hancock County game in Elkton, Kentucky this past fall. It wasn’t the Hornets’ night, as Todd County prevailed; however, the Hornets boasted, in the lineup, an extraordinary kid who “didn’t look like the others,” if you catch my drift.
Darian Clay is a 6-1, 190-pounder and member of Kentucky’s Class of 2021 prospects. We believe he is one of the better RB prospects anywhere in Kentucky in the 2021 class and, as far as our sophomore All-State football team goes, was a “real miss” on our selection committee’s part. He absolutely should have been on there.
Darian needs some help getting his highlights together. When we went to his Hudl page, we saw his freshman highlights and some individual games from his sophomore year, but didn’t see his sophomore highlights anywhere. That is a real shame, because man were there ever some highlights for this walking highlight-reel.
Darian played the Hornets’ version of QB on offense. We call it that owing to the offensive philosophy being so heavily weighted toward the run versus the pass. As an example, Darian ran the ball 153 times and gained 1,580 yards from scrimmage with 27 rushing TDs. As a “thrower,” Clay was 10 for 35 for 247 yards with 1 TD pass against 4 thrown interceptions.
Clay wasn’t too shabby on defense either. Darian registered 54 tackles, recovered a fumble, and intercepted two passes, returning one all the way to pay-dirt in amassing 79 interception-return yards.
Before anyone reading this should inquire about the quality of the competition against whom these number were compiled, we feel compelled to tell you Hancock Co. plays Owensboro Catholic and McClean Co. every year in district. Outside the district, Clay gained 276 yards and scored 4 TDs against State Runner-up, in the 2A-classification, Mayfield. Clay was recognized by KPGFootball and Independence Bank as our Revolutionary Player of the Week on September 16, 2018. Why we didn’t circle back around to him at All-State selection time is a real mystery but one we hope not to repeat.
There should be droves of college recruiters checking the GPS for directions to Lewisport, Kentucky. You kidding me? Here’s a 6-1, 190-pound kid running a fully-automated, 4.6 second, 40-yard dash whose a nearly-1,600 yard ground gainer and has two more years of high school football eligibility remaining! Not to mention his finding pay-dirt 27 times, in only 11-games worth of opportunity, and we’re not counting his defensive pick-six.
KPGFootball feels confidently that, while this kid has been flying a bit under the radar thus far, he won’t be flying under the radar for long. He is certainly on our radar now and we intend to monitor what he accomplishes in football going forward and herald it from our platform to any and everyone this platform reaches.
Reporting for KPGFootball, this is F.W. Long, reminding all of you ballers out there to PLAY THROUGH THE WHISTLE.
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