By JOHN JAMES MARSHALL, Journal Sports
There were a lot of hacked off members of the Airline football community last year when LSU rescinded its scholarship offer to Vikings wide receiver Kenny Darby once Lane Kiffin took over as head coach.
You know who wasn’t one of those people?
Kenny Darby.
“I wouldn’t say I was crushed,” Darby said. “I just felt that God was taking me on a different path.”
That path ended up in Lexington, Ky., and not only is Darby a member of the Kentucky Wildcats football team, he’s become one of their top offensive weapons for a team off to a surprising 4-1 start.
A lot of people might be surprised by that. You know who isn’t one of those people?
Airline coach Juston Scogin.
“Not at all,” he said. “It may be a little surprising how quick it’s happened. I always knew he had the ability. I knew he was going to play soon but I didn’t think he’d have this much success so quickly.”
There’s certainly been plenty of it.
Darby caught a touchdown pass in his first college game, had another in front of 105,000 at Texas A&M and then took it up a few notches last week. Playing against South Carolina, Darby was a major part of a comeback from a 17-0 deficit as the Wildcats won 35-34 in overtime.
He had 12 catches – the most in a game by an SEC receiver this year – for 96 yards and a touchdown.
And look who is coming to town Saturday night – the LSU Tigers, the team Darby thought he would be playing for at this time last year.
Darby said he doesn’t give it much thought other than it’s the next game on the Wildcats schedule.
Scogin points to that as a sign of his former player’s maturity.
“He’s grown up so much in large parts to his family,” he said. “His mom is such a good person and she’s always been there for him. He has handled that (LSU’s decision) very well. Probably better than I did.”
Once LSU moved in a different direction, Darby didn’t waste any time in finding a new school due to his relationship with another LSU expatriate.
During the recruiting process, Darby had a strong connection at LSU with Joe Sloan. When Sloan was relieved of his duties as offensive coordinator in late October, he stayed in contact with Darby. When Sloan took over the same position at Kentucky, he reached out to the Airline star.
It may be a few hundred miles away from where the two thought it would be, but their relationship is just a strong as ever.
“He called me (after being informed by LSU) and asked if I wanted to come up here,” Darby remembered. “And I said ‘Hell yeah!’ “
“He could do a lot of things (in high school) that a lot of kids his age couldn’t do,” Scogin said. “He wasn’t the prototypical receiver like other people wanted. He’s not 6-4 and he’s not a 4.3 40 guy. But Joe Sloan saw some stuff in him that we all saw (at Airline). He did a really good job of evaluating talent and it’s something that’s lost on a lot of guys these days.”
“My relationship with Coach Sloan is great,” Darby said. “He’s always checking on me and calling my mom to see how the family is doing. I knew when he came up here he was going to do great things.”
Darby said there are some differences in how he plays now as opposed to how he played at Airline, where he was a consistent deep threat.
“Definitely my football IQ has gotten better in the way I read coverages and read a defense,” Darby said. “When I left Airline and came to Kentucky, my expectation was to just be the best player I could be and the best teammate I could be to my brothers up here.”
Contact JJ at johnjamesmarshall@yahoo.com