Darby Shows Out
Christian McCollum
KISSSIMMEE, Fla. – It may have been just a 7-on-7 showcase event, but if anybody had any doubts about how bad the players wanted to win at the Champion Gridiron Kings this past weekend, they were erased when Ronald Darby, Terry Richardson and Nelson Agholor collided in midair during the semifinals on Sunday.
All three players were sidelined for the remainder of the game, but all three were fine afterward. For Darby, a Notre Dame verbal commitment, he suffered a bruised knee.
“I just bumped it against Terry, but it’s OK,” Darby said afterward. “It just swelled up a little bit.”
Darby came back for the first drive of the title game against the Southwest, but was pulled when Texas wide receiver commit Thomas Johnson caught three straight passes on him, including a touchdown.
“On that first drive, I give it up to Thomas Johnson,” said Darby. “He tried to put the work in on me. Coach tried to sit me out because they saw my leg. They said, ‘Man, you’re not looking like yourself. You’re favoring it.’ I kind of felt it, but me being a competitor, I’m not going to say it.”
The 5-foot-11, 175-pounder from Oxon Hill, Md., sat out the rest of the first half, but returned after halftime.
“I was real frustrated,” he said. “Thanks to the trainer, I got back. She put pressure on it so the swelling went down. I got back out there and was able to move a lot better. I was excited, but I just wanted to make sure I didn’t overdo it because it’s only 7-on-7.”
Darby made an interception on his final play of the tournament, but it wasn’t enough as the Southwest held on for the 29-13 victory. Despite the loss in the championship, Darby was happy his Midwest squad finally got its first win over the Southeast in the semis.
“It was real important,” he said. “We kind of knew that we were better than them. What was hurting us was mistakes really. We made a lot of mistakes. Coming off the mistakes, all we were saying was just to stay consistent and on defense, to keep everybody in front of us. We knew they would get frustrated and try to go deep and that’s when we made our plays.”
While Darby was slowed by the knee injury, the reviews of Darby’s play by virtually every scout in attendance were splendid.
“Before the injury, I feel like I showed what I can do,” he said.
One of the few plays Darby got beat on was a deep pass to future Notre Dame teammate Deontay Greenberry during the West’s win over the Midwest on Saturday.
“It was my mistake,” Darby said. “I shuffled instead of running and Deontay was just going. When the ball took off, I saw it. When the ball goes up, I can read it to see how far it’s going to be and if I’m going to make it. When I saw how that thing was flying, I was like ‘Uh uh.’ I turned and I saw him and I tried to rip it out.”
Darby enjoyed the overall experience down in Florida.
“It was real fun,” he said. “You’re around the nation’s best. Competition for 7-on-7 isn’t going to go get any better than this, these are the top players in the nation. We were just out here having fun, doing one-on-ones, getting in work. That’s what’s going to help me get better.”
Darby, who reaffrimed his commitment to Notre Dame earlier in the weekend to Irish Sports Daily, said he was doing some recruiting for the Irish in Florida, but wouldn’t acknowledge recruiting anyone other than his roommate and fellow Maryland prospect Cyrus Jones.
“Putting in work for ND,” he said.
When asked who else who was recruiting, Darby laughed.
“I can’t let you know all of that because I don’t want other colleges to get mad. I kept to myself, but I don’t know about Tee (Shepard) and Deontay though.”
