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I-35 Area TXHSFB Alums Hear Name At NFL Draft In Sports' Short Return
Interstate 35 is one of the most important roads in the United States because it connects six American states (Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas) and gives the country another entrance into North American neighbor Mexico. Significant metropolitan areas have also developed along it, so there's enough talent and competition to prepare athletes for the highest levels of sport. That was evident in the 2020 NFL Draft because 15 of Texas' 33 high school alums-turned draft picks came from the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex or the Austin and San Antonio areas of the state.
COVID-19 has cancelled and postponed many events, but the NFL found a safe way to host its annual draft on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The highly anticipated three-day event featured a new virtual format that allowed it to go on as scheduled. It also provided sports fans with an important sense of hope and gave them the opportunity to cheer for their favorite teams and college players.
For Texas, there was a lot of celebration for the draft picks that previously competed near the highway. The first large in-state area you come across when you travel north to south on it is the Metroplex, which produced a dozen draft picks from its boatload of high school alums. DeSoto recorded two draft pick graduates over the weekend in Laviska Shenault (2nd Round, Pick 42 for Jacksonville Jaguars) and James Proche (6th Round, Pick 201 for Baltimore Ravens), while South Grand Prairie's Jeffrey Okudah (Pick 3) and Waxahachie's Jalen Reagor (Pick 21) were first round selections for the Detroit Lions and Philadelphia Eagles.
On the second day, the Baltimore Ravens drafted a pair of North Texas athletes in the third round. McKinney North's Justin Madubuike heard his name called with the 71st pick and Sachse's Devin Duvernay was later announced at pick 92.
The third day began with the fourth round of the draft, which saw Cleburne's Reggie Robinson II go 123rd to the Dallas Cowboys. Then, Cedar Hill's Trevis Gipson (Pick 155 for Chicago Bears) and Arlington Martin's Jason Huntley (Pick 172 for Detroit Lions) followed in the fifth round, the Cincinnati Bengals grabbed Garland's Hakeem Adeniji with the 180th pick in the sixth round, and Wylie East's Eno Benjamin (Pick 222 for Arizona Cardinals) and Mansfield Summit's Vernon Scott (Pick 236 for Green Bay Packers) were included in the seventh round.
The next notable area along I-35 is Central Texas. Before you arrive in Austin, you'll reach two important stops on future Minnesota Viking James Lynch's journey to the 130th pick in the fourth round of this year's NFL Draft. They include the towns of Waco and Round Rock, where he played for Baylor University and Round Rock High School. The region was also put on the map when the Baltimore Ravens made La Grange's J. K. Dobbins a second round draft pick at 55th overall.
Then, the road extends to the South Texas cities of San Antonio and Laredo before reaching the United States/Mexico international border. The Alamo City area produced Converse Judson's Alton Robinson, who was picked up by the Seattle Seahawks with the 148th pick in the fifth round.
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K'Lavon Chaisson: North Shore coach Jon Kay reminisces on the potential first-round NFL Draft pick
HOUSTON - For this Hollywood movie, the script writes itself.
A kid from the East Side of Houston, who didn't play football his sophomore year of high school, would grow up to be a state champion, national champion and now potentially a soon-to-be first round NFL draft pick.
Before K'Lavon Chaisson was making national headlines for the 2019 National Champion LSU Tigers, he was representing North Shore High School , and to go where his story begins, you have to go back to the first coach who saw the potential - North Shore head coach Jon Kay.
"Obviously, he's a gifted athlete. I think his first love at the time was really basketball," Kay said reflecting back to his first memories of meeting K'Lavon. "He ended up finishing out the football season [his freshman year] but didn't play his sophomore year at North Shore. He just played straight basketball. We made another run at him in the spring of his sophomore year. Got him out at spring football and once he came out there you could tell he was incredibly gifted athletically, but was still a very raw football player."
Kay and his staff took that rawness, transformed it and the results were virtually immediate.
In Chaisson's junior season is here where he broke out In his first varsity game in 2015, it came against Clear Springs - a 49-13 victory. He didn't start that day but when he came in, he came off the edge and got a sack, which was a sign for what was to come.
That season, Chaisson battled some injuries including suffering a hairline fracture in his clavicle. He missed time during the season, Kay said and as their playoff push carried on Chaisson was cleared to play in games but not participate in practice.
North Shore reached the Class 6A Division I State Championship game in 2015 - which was Kay's second year of being the Mustangs' head coach - and was set to face Sam Ehlinger and the Austin Westlake Chaps inside NRG Stadium on December 19, 2015.
"So, here you have a kid playing in his first full varsity year and he didn't take a single snap in pads that entire week of the state championship game leading up to Westlake," Kay recalled. "Later on when I went back to watch the practice film he's in a sling standing there behind the offense while we were practicing. He was completely engaged in the gameplan and what was going on. Then he went out and played phenomenal and made the play to end the game in overtime at the goal line."
No practice, no problem.
In the state title game, Chaisson had a fumble recovery and blocked a potentially game-winning 32-yard field goal by Westlake with 16 seconds left in the fourth quarter, which forced overtime. His final play to cement the Hollywood script - he blew up a trick play in the backfield in overtime, which sealed the 21-14 victory for North Shore.
"The thing about K'Lavon was the way he prepared and I think he carried that with him to LSU," Kay said.
Chaisson's work ethic carried over to the Tigers, where he helped LSU win the 2019 National Championship defeating the Clemson Tigers in New Orleans this past January.
Now, Chaisson is projected to be a first-round draft pick. 2020 NFL Mock Drafts have the defensive end being picked in the mid-first round, a majority going with the Atlanta Falcons at No. 16 or the Dallas Cowboys at No. 17. Both need a pass rusher.
"I think athletically he had the potential to do that, but it's just so hard to tell at the high school level," Kay said about if he thought K'Lavon was first-round caliber back in high school. "We've seen a lot of kids with the potential to be NFL athletes. The problem is it takes a lot more than just athleticism to be an NFL athlete and I think that's where he made his mark when he went to LSU and did some of the same things.
"I think the best football of his career is ahead of him," "He's not a guy that's peaked out. I think he's got a lot of football ahead of him. He's going to learn a lot more. He's the kind of athlete that has the physical tools and the mental capacity to put it all together and be the kind of player that can stand out in the league."
The most recent former North Shore players to be drafted have been Emeke Egbule in 2019 (200th by the Chargers) and Dorance Armstrong in 2018. Armstrong went on to play at Kansas after his time at North Shore and was taken in the fourth round with the 116th pick by the Dallas Cowboys.
Over the years there have been others. Chykie Brown was a fifth-round pick (164th by the Ravens in 2011), Cory Redding was a third-round pick (66th by the Lions in 2003), Earl Mitchell was a third-rounder (81st pick by the Texans in 2010), Andre Gurode was a second-rounder (37th by the Cowboys in 2002) and Lance Gunn was a seventh-rounder (175th by the Bengals).
Chaisson in a week is posed to become the first-ever first-rounder from North Shore.
"I don't think if we've had a kid of his stature, despite we've had some pretty good players come out of our place," Kay said.
Despite all the amazing plays, big-game moments that Chaisson has had over his career at North Shore and LSU, Kay doesn't talk about that when asked about his former player.
It's not the on-the-field heroics but rather the off-the-field preparation he praises him for.
"He possesses a good work ethic and he's extremely intelligent," Kay said. "K'Lavon isn't one of those guys who puts it on cruise control and goes out and lets it happen and relies just on his physical gifts. He works on the game. He studies the game. I think that's the best example we can use, regardless of how physically talented you are you're still going to have to bring this to the table if you're going to make it to this part of your career."