Football 2016: Derby’s Kenyon Tabor develops into own kind of leader
There are things about Derby senior wide receiver/tight end Kenyon Tabor that make it easy to discern why he’ll be playing in the Big 12 soon enough.
Tabor, who has made an oral commitment to Kansas, has the size (6-foot-4, 215 pounds) and speed (4.6-second 40-yard dash) that major colleges covet. He has the skills, with 41 catches for 713 yards and seven touchdowns in 2015, that show he knows how to use those physical gifts.
He even has that most ill-defined of sports terms — the “clutch gene” — that every athlete, deep down, hopes and prays they have. With Tabor, there is no doubt.
He played his two best games of last season in Derby’s two biggest games. First, seven catches for 137 yards in a Class 6A semifinal win over Free State, then four catches for 56 yards and the go-ahead touchdown – in an ice storm – in the state-championship win over Blue Valley North.
But in Derby, they will tell you there is something else about him they have come to value just as much as what he does underneath the Friday night lights.
Derby coach Brandon Clark tells a story that explains as much.
“Our superintendent came to me last season and asked me who the tall kid was and I told him that was Kenyon Tabor,” Clark said. “And (the superintendent) tells me he was walking outside of the stadium after a game and saw Kenyon walk up to a little kid in a Derby football T-shirt, asked his name, started talking to him, then gave him a high-five and told him to keep coming to games.
“That’s what Kenyon does when nobody’s watching. When you have the superintendent come up and tell you a story like that you know you have a special kid. Behind the scenes, he is a hard worker and a leader. Very selfless, and you see the product on the field.”
That’s the prevailing sentiment about Tabor, from teammates and coaches – special on and off the field.
“When I was a little kid, (former Derby star) Devin Hedgepeth was someone I really looked up to,” Tabor said. “Any interaction with him, I thought, was so cool. It’s not hurting my day to take five minutes to talk to a little kid. I know it meant the world to me.”
Clark first noticed Tabor playing Derby junior football and, and upon learning his favorite sport was basketball, convinced him to keep football in the picture with an assist from Tabor’s mom, Deb, who played volleyball and basketball for Minnesota State-Moorhead.
“I don’t think she’s really a typical mom in some aspects,” Tabor said, laughing. “It’s hard to explain, but she knows sports really well ... knows a lot about basketball already and every year it seems like she knows a lot more about football.”
That might be an understatement. His mother’s comments are almost indistinguishable from Clark’s at times.
“It’s been kind of entertaining to watch him go from under the radar and adjust to a different role and be in the spotlight,” Deb Tabor said. “I think he’s kind of a quiet guy, naturally, but I think he also knows how to lead and he’s really excited to play in college someday. I think he wants to stand out, he wants to create more opportunities for himself.”
There is an easy comparison between Tabor and University of Florida tight end DeAndre Goolsby, who is on the Mackey Award watch list and led Derby to the 6A title in 2013. Besides playing the same position, they are the same height and around the same weight Goolsby was when he was a senior. Tabor started two games at tight end when starter Kaleb Kelley was out with an injury, and was the second tight end in two-tight end sets when Kelley was healthy.
After Derby won its title last season, Tabor’s teammates surrounded him and chanted “Baby Goolsby” as he did interviews.
“When we got to the playoffs, it was like he was possessed or something,” Derby senior defensive lineman Peerlus Walker said. “It was just another level, almost where it was like you didn’t even know who this guy was during games.”
The late-season surge jump-started Tabor’s recruitment. He received offers from Kansas and Kansas State within three days of each other in early June — but missed out on a handful of high-profile camps that may have led to more offers this summers when he was sidelined with a broken rib during 7-on-7 work in June. That sidelined him for six weeks, and he’s scheduled to return to full activity next week.
Tabor committed to Kansas on Aug. 2.
“He really is a lot like DeAndre,” Clark said. “And that’s the type of player colleges recruit, with that type of size and speed and athletic ability. There’s another reason that a lot of colleges want Kenyon, and it’s something we already know on our team and that is he is someone who wants to be the guy with the ball when the game is on the line. He is someone who can make big-time plays and catches.”
Derby opens the season at Eisenhower on Sept. 2 — ample time for Tabor to get back to 100 percent as the Panthers try to win their third state title in four seasons.
“We need to really prepare well and stay level-headed throughout the entire season,” Tabor said. “And have the mindset that we’re going to be the best team out there. (Quarterback) Dan Dawdy is a passing threat, and we have good receivers with Kai Lemons and Michael Littleton, who is a grade younger than me but I think he’s going to be a baller. The expectations for us are the exact same as they’ve been.”
This story was originally published August 19, 2016 at 4:53 PM with the headline "Football 2016: Derby’s Kenyon Tabor develops into own kind of leader."