re: Class of 2019 Recruiting MEGATHREAD: That's a Wrap Edition

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When North Jackson running back Lee Witherspoon was working the camp circuit this past summer, he found that most colleges were interested in him only as a cornerback. Offers came from the likes of UAB and Troy.

That wasn’t a huge surprise, since Witherspoon had played corner the prior season as a junior at Ramsay. But his offensive highlights - he played receiver for the Rams - were more lacking.

"I told them, 'Hold on, you're going to see some (offensive film) soon,'" North Jackson coach Mark Rose said. "I tell you what, talk about blowing up."

Blowing up on a nuclear level.

The 6-foot, 185-pound Witherspoon has averaged 21.1 yards per carry while tallying 2,759 yards and an AHSAA-record 53 rushing touchdowns. He also holds the single-season record for total TDs with 59 (the rushing touchdowns, plus TDs on three punt returns, one kick return, one interception return and one reception). His rushing yardage is currently the ninth-best in AHSAA history. Should Witherspoon reach his average of 251 yards in Friday’s Class 4A second-round home game against Hokes Bluff,he would move up to fourth in the record book while becoming just the fifth AHSAA running back to eclipse 3,000 yards.

College staffs couldn’t ignore Witherspoon’s eye-popping stats and his potential as a running back. Mississippi State and Virginia Tech offered. Tennessee has shown interest . Alabama running backs Joe Pannunzio is expected to attend the Hokes Bluff game, Rose said.

Witherspoon will likely wait until February to sign so that he can take more visits following the season, according to Rose.

“It’s probably got his head spinning a little bit,” Rose said of the recruiting attention. “You go from no offers and no one even knows about you in the spring, then the camp circuit and everything that’s happened this fall.”

Rose recalled being amazed when one of his former running backs, Kansas signee Octavius Matthews, averaged 11.2 yards per carry in 2014.

“I had never heard of 11.2; but 21.1 is just ... I don’t know that it’s ever happened in the history of the state,” Rose said.

It's impossible to know for sure where Witherspoon would rank in that category; average yards per carry is not a stat kept in the AHSAA records.

Witherspoon has carried the ball just one time in the fourth quarter - a win at 6A Arab in the regular-season finale - and he has only run about 12 times in the third quarter all season, Rose said. He expects those carry totals to increase Friday as the fifth-ranked Chiefs (11-0) get their biggest test yet in third-ranked Hokes Bluff (10-1), which boasts a 2,300-yard rusher in Darrian Meads.

“It’s going to be one of the biggest games played here in a long time, and I think one of the biggest games in the state,” Rose said.

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