Lake’s Danarrious Hughes was one on the top defensive backs in small-school football last year.
Hughes led Class 2A with nine interceptions and was named a first-team, all-state Class 2A pick at cornerback.
Hughes is also the first pick for The Newton County Appeal’s annual Elite 11, featuring the top players in Newton County.
Hughes is a two-sport athlete for Lake, also starting for the basketball team. But Hanna said his talents really lie on the football fields.
“He’s a big, physical, good-looking young man,” Hanna said. “He has been a three-year starter for us. He led 2A in interceptions last year and that was with him not getting thrown at a lot. He was our shutdown guy. We always put him on the No. 1 receiver for the other team.”
In Lake’s spring game against Sebastopol, Hughes had an interception return for a touchdown while playing safety, a position that Hanna says Hughes will play more of this season.
“We moved him to safety in the spring, but if the other team has something that we need to shut down, we’ll just put him there. As far as colleges are concerned, they like him at safety. He’s 6-foot and weighs about 198 pounds. He’s a big physical kid and would likely play safety in college.”
Hanna said Hughes has offers from East Mississippi, Mississippi Gulf Coast, Holmes, Hinds and interest from several other junior colleges.
Hughes said the transition to safety was an easy one.
“It didn’t really affect me,” Hughes said. “I know at corner, I don’t do what the safety does and at safety, I don’t do what the corner does. So I felt like it came easy to me. I had a pick six in the spring game and showed everybody that I could get the job done back there.”
Last years, Hughes had just seven catches for 134 yards on Hornets on offense. But Hanna said he expects to see more of Hughes on offense this season and noted that he also had an offensive touchdown in the spring game.
“We are looking for big things out of him on offense as well,” Hanna said. “He had a 50-60 yard touchdown pass in the spring game as well. We look for him to be more productive on the offensive side of the ball this year. He also kicks off for us and plays every special team. He’s a kid that can catch a hitch and take it 80 yards for us. In our offense this year, we are going to get the ball in the hands of our skill players a lot more.”
Hughes said it doesn’t matter where he’s at on the field.
“In high school, you have to play both sides of the football,” Hughes said. “I just play anywhere thy put me. It doesn’t really matter to me. I just play wherever they put me and try to get the job done. I do like defense a little better because I can stop somebody and then go score if I get a pick.”
Hanna said Hughes has turned into one of the team leaders.
“He’s one of the guys who leads by example and we’ve got a team full of seniors this year who were undefeated in seventh and eighth grade,” Hanna said. “They have worked their tails off this offseason and bought into what we are trying to do. They may not be very verbal but they are good leaders. Danarrious can be verbal if he needs to be but most of the time he leads by example.”
Hanna said he has a consistent message for college coaches who call asking about Hughes.
“To me, he is the dog on our team,” Hanna said. “When a college coach comes here, and we have four kids with multiple offers, they ask me if I can name one kids on the team who is a dog, it’s Danarrious. He’s the guy, that no matter what side of the ball we are one and we need somebody to make a play, Danarrious is that guy. If we need something big to happen, he’s the guy we are going to.”
Hughes also starts for the basketball team, where he plays point guard.
“I like basketball because I like setting other people up,” Hughes said. “It’s not just me on the court, there are four other players. As long as the team is winning, I’m good with it. It’s fine with me to set everybody else up and let them score. It’s just important to me to be a team player.”
