One thing we appreciate around KPGFootball is versatility. Players who could contribute to their teams a variety of ways were once quite prized in football.
Many of the early Heisman winners contributed to their teams in a variety of ways. To a man, almost all of these Heisman winners were heavily involved in special teams, to some extent or another. It is the third phase of football, special teams, but a phase which isn’t attributed the importance in the modern game as it either used to be afforded or should be afforded still today.
Mason County High School has a young man who has been contributing to the Royals’ fortunes in a variety of ways. His name is Ashton Adams and the 2019 season would see him surge to the top of his graduating class among 2022 football stars playing 3A football in Kentucky.
First of all, he’s a place-kicker. To call the 5-11, 168-pound, Class of 2022 footballer just a place kicker is deceptive in itself. Adams is the second-string QB for the Royals, together with playing defensive back, where he logged 69-tackles in 2019 for third best on the team, and its place kicker-punter where he would convert on 31 of 36 PAT attempts, kick off 44-times for 1,797-yards (49.8-yards on average), and punt it 36-times for 1,152 yards (32-yards per attempt).
Perhaps we should delve deeper into his stats. Ashton Adams, playing in the defense’s third level in addition to being ranked 25th in the 2A classification for converted PATs, 31-36, was also 7th in FFs (forced fumbles) with 3, had 2 FRs (fumbles recovered), and was 9th in the classification with 4 interceptions. Adams was basically a one-man band of football production.
That is quite a ton to accomplish in an array of areas for a guy who just completed his sophomore season in high school. There is something else rather extraordinary about what Ashton did in 2019. He did all of it while significantly injured.
Ashton fractured his back during a Sevens tournament (7v7) in Frankfort, Kentucky on July 26, 2019. He was taken to a variety of doctors all of whom thought his injury was musculature. Ashton battled through the pain before having to sit out one of Mason County’s 12-contests.
Finally, Ashton was seen by a children’s hospital which diagnosed Ashton as having sustained a fractured L5 upon ordering his undergoing a MRI. Notwithstanding the fractured lumbar-thoracic vertebra, Adams played the final game. In the final game of the season, the sophomore with the broken back tallied 14-tackles, converted 4-PATs, caught a pair of passes for 19-yards, and picked-off a pass.
Mason County finished the season in 2019 with a 6-6 work-slate, losing in round two to Fleming County, 35-7. Still, Adams exhibited a tremendous amount of grit, toughness, ability, and versatility over the course of a season where most players see limited varsity playing time.
We are confident this is a young man who KPGFootball should be closely monitoring going forward in future Fall football seasons. We are equally confident that is exactly what we will be doing.
This is Coach HB Lyon, reporting for KPGFootball, and we’re JUST CALLING IT LIKE WE SEE IT!
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