Lawson's record-breaking season came to end Friday night. his underdog Nettleton team couldn't keep pace with a vastly superior all-white Greenwood team.
i personally went to this game, and it looked as if Lawson wasn't 100%. he was noticebaly limping and looked like he was sick or something. that being said, his record-setting single-season total stands at 3,093 yards and 36 TDs.
i must say that i was even more impressed with Lawson's numbers after seeing his o-line. they were a bunch of fat, sumo-type kids who could barely move. if they played as porly all year as they did against Greenwood, this kid is nearly Superman.
a scouting report: Lawson doesn't have eye-popping speed, but nobody catches him from behind. has tremendous feet and good vision. physical running style reminds me of Eddie George... another upright runner without breathtaking speed. Lawson breaks a ton of tackles. runs with power but must be slippier than he looks, bcause he doesn't take many big hits.
he hasn't even tapped his physical potential, much less his running ability after this year, his first as a full-time starter. he doesn't look to be in real good shape; has a pretty good belly on him and isn't cut at all. probably weighs about 215 and stands a little over 6 feet. looks like a big country boy with a big frame, so he has tremendous upside in strength and explosiveness if he hits a weight room with a trainer who knows what they're doing. could shed the fat/bad weight and lean up a lot, then put on good muscle weight and be an imposing power back. shows good, not great, hands catching the football.
overall, it's amazing the numbers he put up when he is so obviously raw. he had tremendous ability and production already, but his upside is tremendous! if he were a black kid, everyone in the country would be looking at him.
as an aside, Greenwood's back, William Ridener, looked good. i'd never heard of this kid, but he's very slippery and quicker than he looks. he'd make a run and not look that great, but then you'd notice he'd picked up 20 yards. he outshined Lawson in the game with 197 yards and 4 TDs on 27 carries. Lawson had 140 yards and 2 TDs on 34 carries. of course, Greenwood's lines COMPLETELY dominated Nettleton's, and Lawson had very little help, getting hit in the ackfield 2 plays out of every 3.
all-white Greenwood now faces all-white except for one guy Pulaski Academy in the state championship game, after PA knocked off all-black Wynne.
what gives? they talked about some kid out of MO, but not about home-grown Arkansan Derek Lawson's incredible performance... not surprising since they are up the butt of the Razorbacks. they probably don't want to tout a phenomenal talent that the Hogs are screwing over.
