Okay, Dylan Yates was first team All-Western Kentucky Conference in 2020. Okay, Dylan Yates was on the All-Purchase team in the Paducah Sun. All-right, Dylan Yates was honorably mentioned All-State.
So how’s he a “Break-out Player?” Who said a “Break-out Player” couldn’t be halfway out before we feature him?
With every post-season award he has won, Yates has still managed to fly under the radar a bit. His semi-anonymity, outside of the Jackson Purchase and Western Kentucky Conference, is attributable to two things. For one, Yates has played on a west-Kentucky, Class 1A football team, which in and of itself doesn’t lend to much ballyhoo. Secondly, playing on the same team and same side of the football with one of ’21s biggest and most talked about defensive players, linebacker Tyler Boone, couldn’t have helped throw any spotlight Yates’ way.
Boone is a guy who was a finalist this past year for one of our Mingua Beef Jerky Protein-packed Performers Awards. He also had 117-tackles, 24-TFLs, 4-sacks, and two forced fumbles before electing to play his college football for the Racers at Murray State.
Tyler is gone to play on Saturday night. He has left Friday nights for his boys back in Marion. They still have quite a bit left in the cupboard. The Rockets always do.
Still, Boone, at 6-1 and 220-pounds playing linebacker, casts a pretty long shadow. That shadow may have attributed to the perceived lack of attention thrown Dylan Yates’ way in ’20, even though he was more than deserving.
Yates played DE on the same defense with Boone. Comparing their numbers, which don’t exactly lineup as they played different positions but still is useful for purposes of illustration, Boone had more stops and tackle for loss, sure, but Yates more than held his own in other critical statistical categories.
For instance, Yates may have had fewer overall stops (51-total tackles) in his 9-games of action, but Yates had 9-sacks (well more than Boone’s 4), Yates had 11-TFLs, Yates forced 4-fumbles, and Yates blocked a kick. So, there you go!
Those are killer numbers in crucial statistical areas for anyone playing outside across any team’s defensive front. Those are prodigious numbers for a defensive end playing an entire year of 13 or so games much less a DE only getting to play in 9, as was the case for Yates and his cohorts a season ago.
Yates is 6-1 and weighs 235-pounds. Yates is powerfully built. Yates is explosive. Yates has bend and flexibility. Yates has speed and quickness.
Now, Yates has center-stage in ’21. Let’s see what he does with it.
Our guess, he will launch into the stars…like a rocket! You can write this down now.
This is HB Lyon reporting for Kentucky Prep Gridiron reminding you that WE’RE JUST CALLING IT LIKE WE SEE IT!
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