Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, November 16, 1995 TAG: 9511170003
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE:
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Kenyon and Davis are having a good year as bookend inside linebackers for the Indians' stingy as Scrooge defense? Who's surprised by that?
Anybody who was paying attention could have told you these boys were going to be good. They've been good. You don't start as a freshman at Blacksburg unless you're totally off the charts.
Which was just what both of these guys were. And are.
Kenyon, who is now a seam-busting 6-foot-2, 200 pounds worth of iron-pumping power as a senior, came up at the finish of the junior varsity campaign his freshman year and earned an immediate start on the offensive line.
``I was the first freshman to start at Blacksburg in 19 years,'' he said quietly but with unmistakable pride.
``And I was the second,'' said Davis, a year younger but no less physically imposing than Kenyon.
Davis, who looks big in street clothes and huge in football armor, punted along with other assignments as a ninth grader. His findings after his battlefield promotion?
``There is a big difference in JV and varsity,'' he said.
These guys spent so little time on the JV that it's a wonder they can recollect anything about the experience. The memories have kept a-coming on varsity. For Kenyon, not all of them have been sweet.
If you're looking for him any day before practice, you'll be referred to his own private office, also known as the training room. Kenyon has been more of a fixture in the training room than either tape or ice. He's spent more time on a cold padded table than the guest of honor at a coroner's inquest.
``An hour and a half a day, every day,'' he said. ``And that's been since the second week in August.''
Kenyon has been probed more than Don King's finances. Knee surgery cost him seven games as a junior. This year, a number of his joints are one constant throb. When the whistle blows, he's there though, arriving in a violent mood.
``The other kids watch out for him in practice,'' Blacksburg assistant coach Vaughn Phipps said. ``They'll go, `Look out, Kip's mad.'''
Kenyon is one of these guys who is as pleasant and cheerful as they come until he puts on a football hat. Then he turns into a well-groomed werewolf.
Davis doesn't present quite such a ferocious front on the field as does Kenyon. That isn't, however, to say that if you're a ballcarrier, you would relish having to meet Davis in the off-tackle hole any more than you would Kenyon.
``Davis has a chance to be real good,'' said Phipps, the defensive coach.
Translation: ``Man, am I glad I have this kid another year.''
There were times you'd have to wonder if Kenyon ever were going to have another game, much less another year of football.
``He's played games for us that most people wouldn't have dressed,'' Blacksburg coach David Crist said. ``He has a very high tolerance for pain. There have been games after which he could hardly walk just because that's how hard he played. He plays the last play like he did the first.''
If you subscribe to the ``no pain-no gain'' school of thought, you may understand how Kenyon followed the weight training path blazed by his half-brother and predecessor as a Indians linebacker, Kelly Holbert. Both of them will be remembered among the strongest players ever at Blacksburg. Kenyon maxed out his bench press late in the summer at 355 pounds.
``He also runs a 4.9 40,'' Phipps pointed out.
The inside linebackers are expected to make most of the tackles in Blacksburg's defense. There is no overt competition between Davis and Kenyon as to who will have the most stops at the end of the year.
``We used to worry about that,'' Davis said. ``Now, all we worry about is what's best for the team.''
by CNB