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Youth's Extra Drive

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By ADAM ADKINS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 21, 2007

Updated: 09/21/2007 12:13 am

TAMPA - This time last year, Conner Powers was running through defenses as a member of youth football's Brandon Bears. Now, Powers is among Hillsborough County's rushing leaders.

Newsome's freshman fullback is probably the biggest surprise among the county's rushing leaders, but he's not the only underclassmen making headway with strong play in the backfield. In fact, there are five underclassmen - Powers, Tampa Bay Tech sophomore Maurice Hagens, and juniors Jarvis Giles of Gaither, Ryan Rice of Durant and Donovan Celerin of King - among the county's top 10 rushers.

This occurrence can be attributed to several factors. The most notable is that some, while extremely talented, are products of their team's offensive system.

But the biggest factor seems to be an inherent extra drive or hunger in these younger players, something that may have been lacking to a certain extent in years past.

'It doesn't shock me at all,' Tampa Bay Tech coach C.C. Culpepper said of seeing so many young running backs at the top of the county's leaders. 'Kids are now coming into high school football a lot more prepared. ... Kids are coming in ready to play.'

'I just think it's a change in the times,' Gaither coach Mark Kantor added.
Kantor saw the times change before his eyes last season, when his current standout, Giles, won the starting tailback job as a sophomore.

Sure, Giles had speed and loads of talent, Kantor said, but there were other backs capable of carrying the load. What separated Giles from the rest was a work ethic uncommon for someone his age, and it was difficult not to take notice and not to reward the effort.

'I don't know where he learned that from. I think it's just his own inner self,' Kantor said. 'Some people have that type of drive and work ethic. His is just a personal, driven goal.'

A goal to be the best, Giles said. That was something Giles said he learned to strive for early on thanks to his father, Billy, and older brother Devin, now a defensive back at Washington State.

After transferring from Jefferson to Gaither after his freshman season, Giles was joining a team as a relative unknown, but he was eager to make a mark as quickly as possible.

'I didn't expect to really be the starting running back. I just said to myself, 'I've got to play hard all the time,'' Giles said. 'And the coaches saw something in me.'

Powers took a similar approach. As an incoming freshman, Powers had all but a few summer weightlifting sessions before he strapped on the pads for the Wolves as an unheralded newcomer during fall two-a-days. It was only a matter of time before he'd be relegated to junior varsity, he thought, but Powers vowed to carry the same mind-set every day before then: work extremely hard and do whatever he could to get noticed.

'I knew that if I was going to get a chance I had to earn it,' Powers said. 'I've never been one to just sit back. So I pretty much just did everything I could, popping in anywhere I could.'

It didn't take long for him to make an impression.

'The first day we got pads, he stepped up and we knew right away he was a player,' Newsome coach Kenneth Hiscock said.

So much so that Hiscock decided to move Powers from linebacker to fill the void at fullback, a very important role in Newsome's Wing-T offense. Hiscock couldn't help but wonder how a freshman would respond to that task, but Powers did his best to put the coach's mind at ease with his performance in the Kickoff Classic against Lennard, when the freshman rushed for 97 yards and four touchdowns in his first varsity appearance.

'As a freshman, he's taken a lot on his shoulders and he's carried it well. So we're proud to have him,' Hiscock said. 'Now as a freshman, I didn't think he could come in and perform like this. The speed is so much different from Little League to high school. ... But he's picked it up. He's the real deal.'

That's how Culpepper felt last year about Hagens, who has been the most dominant offensive presence for the Titans during their surprising 3-0 start.

Culpepper, a former Armwood assistant, saw firsthand what a fullback with Hagens' size and speed could accomplish, watching former Hawks standout Kalvin Bailey run wild in those consecutive state championship seasons in 2003 and 2004. It's why, as Tampa Bay Tech's defensive coordinator last year, Culpepper did his best to convince the former regime to keep Hagens off the defensive line and at fullback, even if Hagens would be used primarily as a decoy and a blocker in the Titans scheme.

But the seldom-used Hagens of 2006 can't even be compared to the Hagens of 2007. This year's Hagens had an epiphany of sorts, Culpepper said, fueled by his family, his coach and his teammates. That allowed Culpepper to build his offense around a player he felt could dominate.

'He came back hungry, he came back with a different attitude, a little more toughness, something that some of the offensive people questioned last year,' Culpepper said of his fullback. 'He grew up a lot from last football season to this first game. His heart and work ethic is there now.'

And when that's in place, all coaches need to do is just sit back and enjoy the ride.

'You enjoy time that you have with a kid like Jarvis, because you never know if another one's going to come like him,' Kantor said of Gaither's junior standout. 'You hope, but you just never know.'

Reporter Adam Adkins can be reached at (813) 657-4533 or aadkins@tampatrib.com.

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