NOTES QUOTES AND A THOUGHT OR TWO
It’s been a few weeks since the Mississippi public school all-star games were announced.
Three areas players made the team and are well deserving. Newton County put two players on the Bernard Blackwell North squad in Landon Huber and Collier Mangum. Both of those guys are specialists. Mangum will be the long snapper while Huber will be the punters. I have to say, this is not a real surprise with the emphasis that Newton County coach Bobby Bass puts on special teams.
The other local player is Newton’s De’Traun Brown. Brown’s production was down this season as the Tigers went 0-10. But Brown had more than 1,000 yards receiving last year as a junior and will likely sign with one of the state’s junior colleges.
I applaud those three players but for me, it’s a question of who is not on the list.
There two notable snubs in our area in Sebastopol’s Adarius McDougle and Lake’s Ny’Zavion McClendon.
McDougle may have one of the strongest cases of any players in the state. The Sebastopol quarterback was the Class 2A Mr. Football last season for the Bobcats after rushing for 1,968 yards on 194 carries and throwing for 464 yards while scoring 200 points. Then McDougle came back and topped that his senior year as he rushed for 2,062 yards on 205 carries and threw for 793 yards. And he scored 232 points this year to lead the area. For those who don’t add big numbers well, that’s 5,287 yards and 432 points in two seasons. And he repeated as the Class 2A Mr. Football this season. I don’t know about y’all but I just don’t see how you can leave McDougle off this list. I understand he’s not really a quarterback but he’s an athlete and at the time that I am writing this, McDougle was the second-leading rusher in the state. I have trouble believing that there are that many players in the skill positions better than McDougle. It’s been my experience that a good many of the players in the North-South game are junior college players. McDougle has offers from Southern Miss and Tennessee-Martin and any of the state’s junior colleges would love to have him.
And then there is Lake’s McClendon. Let me just say up front that McClendon may be one of the smartest kids I have ever interviewed. He’s smart enough that he has interest from Vanderbilt, who has done a ton of homework on him. While the Hornets were on the field a good bit on defense this season, McClendon led the area in tackles with 117 tackles after recording 89 tackles last year. And after watching every game they played this season, I don’t think that number is inflated by any means. Had the Hornets played McClendon in the middle instead of outside linebacker, there’s no telling how many tackles he would have had because most teams just ran away from him. While McDougle may be on the short side, McClendon has a long wing span and runs like a deer. He has an offer from Southeastern Louisiana, all three in-state SWAC schools and all the state’s jucos. Lake coach Tate Hanna said Vanderbilt has shown significant interest. I’m just telling you that if he’s good enough for Vandy to take serious interest in, he’s good enough to play in the North-South game, if not the Mississippi-Alabama game.
I’ve asked both coaches what they think happened and neither one has an answer. Hanna said it just “blows my mind” and Brown said “it’s the craziest thing I’ve ever seen.”
I couldn’t agree more guys, I just don’t understand how these two get overlooked.
Robbie Robertson is sports editor for The Newton County Appeal. He can be reached at rrobertson12811@yahoo.com.
