🎶You never see what you want to see
Forever playing to the gallery
You take the long way home
Take the long way home...🎶
Richard Davies / Roger Hodgson
Performed by the band, Supertramp, 1979
Kylan Combs came out of middle school among the more decorated defensive backfield pieces in the 2027, Kentucky-wide graduating class. He didn’t do anything to dampen enthusiasm his freshman year either. Combs was described by us then as “…a 6’0,” 170-pound freshman with all the tools. [Combs] plays with superior leverage, has excellent speed for his stage of development, and is an excellent powerlifter on top of everything else…Not a nicer kid in Kentucky, this guy will be among the more recruited prospects at his position throughout the commonwealth…” We noted that, Combs’s freshman season, “…Combs was 4th on the team in rushing (160-yards)…[scoring] three (3) rushing TDs [and that] [Combs] was among the club leaders in scoring [and tackles]…Combs had 109-tackles and a TFL.” Then came the wreck which nearly cost him his high school playing career and did cost him an entire season and hundreds upon hundreds of hours of painful rehab. Combs has come back, from incredibly long odds, to star, once again, in the Breathitt defensive 3rd level with his contributing multi-phase utility in multiple phases of the game. Combs has taken “…the long way home…” and all of us are mighty glad to see him return.
HB Lyon, Scouting Director, “KPGFootball”
Jackson, KY: There are a couple things which are likely to be pretty apparent from your reading of this article. One is the fact I (as the author) am very familiar with this family. Two is the fact I think the world of this family. Three is that I love and appreciate this young man, as both a football player and person, nearly as much as I love and appreciate my own two sons.
Those three facts are universally held true by families throughout the Appalachia mountains in the commonwealth of Kentucky. We Appalachians know the Combs family, and the Combs boys, and have for years.
We admire them. We revere them.
Kylan Combs came up to the varsity roster from a middle school football career virtually unrivaled among his peer group. If one was a KYMSFA/KHSAA fan, one certainly knew of Kylan Combs, his big brother, Kory, and his dad, Kenneth “Shorty” Combs.
Not that it matters, but Shorty is taller than I. I am fairly tall and was just measured, at 75-inches in height, by an adjuster writing a policy of insurance covering me. We will not discuss my weight. It could use some work.
Shorty Combs played collegiately for Coach Roy Kidd at EKU and is still discussed as one of the better DEs the Colonels ever put on a playing field. Since leaving college, Shorty has been a well respected educator, business man, and football coach known throughout the commonwealth by “football people.”
There is another Combs kid in the wings. His name is Kenton Combs and some claim he is the best of the three. He is a grade school, football star in the “Lumberjacks” program. We are sure we will be featuring him like we have featured (and continue to feature) his brothers.
Kylan hit the lineup at Breathitt High as a freshman from night one/snap one. Make no mistake, he was the best freshman safety I saw play that year, at any level of competition. Kylan made our all-state football team.
Then came a traffic accident which changed the lives of the occupants of the vehicle forever. It was a bad accident.
No one died in the wreckage but most were very thankful and somewhat surprised by the fact. Kylan was hurt as badly or even worse than anyone else in the car and his big brother, Kory, was another of the vehicle’s occupants.
Kylan couldn’t play his sophomore season. Matter of fact, there were people who didn’t believe Kylan would ever again play football. The accident forever changed quite a few football fortunes.
Combs made it back to football for his junior year, this past season (2025). That fact alone fills me with amazement. Combs did more than just make it back on the field of play.
Combs starred. Combs flourished.
Combs scored a rushing TD on defense, registered a two-pointer on special teams, and logged 64-tackles, recovered a fumble, and was among the team leaders in passes broken up (PBUs) from his safety slot. Combs exhibited multi-phase utility. Combs made our Small School All-State Football team.
🎶Does it feel that your life’s become a catastrophe?
Richard Davies / Roger Hodgson
Oh, it has to be, for you to grow, boy…🎶
Performed by the band, Supertramp, 1979
Yessir, Combs took the long way home; but, he has made it back home. As the lyricists wrote in the hit song released back in 1979, Does it feel that your life’s become a catastrophe?/Oh, it has to be, for you to grow,…
Welcome back, Kylan!
This is Friday Night Fletch, reporting for KPGFootball; reminding you to PLAY THROUGH THE WHISTLE!
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