By Mike London
LANDIS — The story goes that the L.A. Rams sent a scout to look at a small-school running back in Mississippi, but the scout was more intrigued by the 6-foot-5, 272-pound guy he spotted who was faster than the back.
That large, swift guy’s name was David Jones. He had played for South Carolina State in 1958, but he had his scholarship revoked. He transferred to Mississippi Vocational College, the school we now know as Mississippi Valley State. He had to sit out the 1959 season, but he was able to play football in 1960.
The Rams took a chance on Jones as the 186th pick of the 1961 NFL draft. He was a 14th-rounder.
All Jones did was become the most dominant defensive end in football history. He invented the head slap and he invented the sack. During Jones’ prime, 1964-70, he was a sure thing for 20 sacks in 14-game seasons.
Still, in the early stages of his career, Jones wasn’t certain sportswriters would be able to remember who David Jones was, so he gave himself a more colorful nickname. He called himself “Deacon.”
There haven’t been a lot of football Deacons, unless you count the ones who have played for Wake Forest, but now South Rowan has a Deacon — Deacon Abernathy, a 6-foot-4, 235-pound senior who plays offensive tackle and defensive end.
Deacon isn’t a nickname. It’s his real name.
“My dad picked it out,” Abernathy said. “Our church in Kannapolis is very important to him, he’s all about serving God, and he thought Deacon would be a good name for his son.”
Abernathy had two sacks — the original Deacon would have been proud — in South’s recent 38-23 against Trinity that lifted the Raiders to a 3-0 start.
“On the sacks, their offensive tackle did a good job of pushing me out wide, but we had good coverage and I didn’t give up,” Abernathy said. “I was proud I didn’t give up. I stayed in the play and eventually I got to the quarterback.”
Abernathy also had a fumble recovery. That was just a matter of being in the right place at the right time.
“They had a snap problem,” Abernathy said. “The running back had a chance to pick the ball up up, but he missed it. Then I made a dive for it and got on it. That play helped us. It set up a score.”
While he’s been a playmaker on the defensive side of the ball, South leans heaviest on Abernathy on offense. The Raiders have been determined to establish their identity as a hard-nosed, run-first team, and Abernathy has been a big part of that.
“We believe that whenever we really need 3 yards, we can trust our 0-line can get us 3 yards,” South head coach Chris Walsh said. “We had success last year with big plays – Brooks Overcash hitting go-routes to Jaden Moore and Marshal Faw. But this has got to be more of a blue-collar, grinding team. We feel like we can throw it enough, but we are definitely a running team, and our guys are embracing that.”
Jayden Arthur rushed for 129 yards in South’s opening night win. With Arthur out, Nic Woolf stepped in and turned in two monster games in a row. Woolf has accomplished the feat of back-to-back 200 yard games. He has scored seven TDs the last two weeks.
When South returns to action after the bye week, it should have both Arthur and Woolf available, and that’s going to be a good problem to have. Owen Smith and Tashon Boulware also have put the ball in the end zone.
“No matter who’s running the ball, we’ve got to keep on trucking,” Abernathy said. “We’ve done a nice job so far of learning from film and focusing on making good blocks.”
Walsh likes to keep all South achievements in historical perspective. He figures this is only the 10th time in program history that South has started 3-0.
“I try to give our guys historical markers,” he said. “I like to let them know we’re doing things that not a lot of South teams have done. Still, we know we have to get better. During our open week, we didn’t worry about any other teams. We focused exclusively on South and what we can do to improve our team. We’ve got hard-working guys, no-nonsense guys, and we did get better.”
The film exchange with Northwest Cabarrus took place on Friday. Now it’s time for the South Piedmont Conference. The serious stuff starts next Friday against the always tough Trojans.
South’s non-conference schedule was not overwhelming, but it should be noted that South victims Union Academy and Langtree Charter did post wins last week.
South was pretty confident of winning at Langtree Charter in Week 2, so Walsh promised the team a Monday off from practice if the Raiders won. That was mostly so Abernathy and some of his teammates could take advantage of the opening of dove-hunting season.
“That was a great day in the woods, just being out there getting close to nature,” Abernathy said. “It was a day or doing what I love doing.”
While Abernathy thrives on run-blocking, the Raiders will have to throw effectively enough to keep defenses honest. New QB Lincoln Carlbert threw his first TD pass in the Trinity game, hitting Landon Deal over the middle on a 42-yard play.
“When the o-line doesn’t allow any sacks, Lincoln’s family feeds us,” Abernathy said. “We go over to his house and eat, and that’s a powerful incentive. We all like to eat.”
Abernathy once was just a tall kid that Walsh saw walking the hallways, but Walsh imagined he would look good in a red and black football uniform. Abernathy is a baseball player, but Walsh talked him into adding football to his list of activities.
It’s been a growing process, but Abernathy started to figure things out on the jayvee team as a sophomore. He moved up to the varsity as a junior and earned a job, and he’s made another jump as a senior to being a standout.
“I think the biggest thing was the work I put in during the off season,” Abernathy said. “I gained about 15 pounds, and it’s all good weight, all muscle.”
Deacon Abenathy isn’t Deacon Jones, but there was only one of those. The Raiders are pleased with the Deacon they’ve got.
And, yes, he knows there are still plenty of South doubters out there.
“We’ll keep working as hard as we can,” he said. “That’s all we can do. We plan to keep on trucking.”
