Immovable Object Versus Unstoppable Force : Hawthorne Offense Gets a Kick-Start With the Addition of Tailback McCoy

With the graduation of tailback Morell Ollis, Hawthorne’s leading rusher the past two seasons, Coach Dan Robbins was concerned about who would fill the void.

That was before Corey McCoy stepped into the Cougar backfield.

After starting at defensive back as a junior, McCoy has made a successful transition to tailback this season. McCoy, 17, is the second-leading rusher in the South Bay with 883 yards and 11 touchdowns in 77 carries--an average of 11.5 yards a carry. He also has 11 receptions for 286 yards and five TDs, including an 80-yard pass play for a TD against Beverly Hills last week.

The statistics have even surprised McCoy.

“Before the season, a lot of people would ask me, ‘Are you going to go for 1,000 or 1,500 yards this year?’ and I’d say no because it’s hard to predict something like that,” he said.

The 5-foot-8, 160-pound McCoy doesn’t have the size that strikes fear in opponents, but his speed does.

“He’s as quick of a back as I’ve ever had and I’ve had people like Curtis Conway and Travis Hannah,” Robbins said. “Corey’s every bit as quick as them. He’s flat-out fast.”

Greg Dies, the director of the Westminster-based Para-Dies Scouting service, has a favorable impression of McCoy.

“His size is his only question mark, but these days there are a lot of little players around. . . . He’s almost impossible to tackle one-on-one in the open field,” Dies said.

McCoy competed on the track team last season, running the 100-meter dash in 10.74 seconds and anchoring the school’s 400-meter relay team that finished third in the State meet in June at Cerritos College. He was also clocked at 4.46 seconds in the 40-yard dash at the start of football season.

Although he enjoys competing in track, McCoy said football is his favorite sport.

“I’ve been playing football since I was 7 or 8 years old and I played flag football and Pop Warner. Football’s just something that’s in my blood.”

McCoy said he weighed between 145 and 150 pounds last season but wanted to improve his strength and conditioning in the off-season to help the transition to tailback.

“I’d go out running at 9 every night around where I live,” McCoy said. “I’d run between Inglewood and Hawthorne Boulevard about 15 times and that helped me stay in shape. I also picked up about 10 to 15 pounds from lifting weights, so I think that really helped improve my strength.”

Robbins said McCoy is as dedicated to improving as any player on the team. The Cougars (6-1) are ranked No. 1 in the South Bay going into Friday night’s Bay League game against Peninsula (6-1) at Hawthorne.

“He’s a quiet person by nature and quiet people tend to do a lot of listening, and Corey does that well,” Robbins said. “Corey’s as coachable a player as you could have at his position. There’s an aura of confidence in him but not to the point that he isn’t willing to learn and pick up things.”

McCoy has surpassed 100 yards rushing in five games this season. He made an impressive debut with a 115-yard effort against Loyola on Sept. 11.

His best game was against Torrance on Oct. 9, when he rushed for 255 yards and four touchdowns in 15 carries.

“I think something that I’ve seen in him is he’s improved with each game and I still see room for improvement,” Robbins said.

McCoy’s emergence is impressive considering that he played only sparingly as a tailback as a junior.

He gives Ollis much of the credit for his development. Ollis is red-shirting at El Camino College after being injured in an auto accident before the season.

“I didn’t play a lot (at tailback) last year but I really learned a lot from him,” McCoy said. “He spent a lot of time showing me things and I also learned a lot just by watching him.”

But it was Robbins who helped McCoy get a handle on the football. McCoy fumbled frequently when he was a tailback on the sophomore team.

“But coach Robbins showed me a lot of things like how to hold (the ball) and how to keep it from getting stripped from you, and I’ve only fumbled one time this season,” McCoy said.

McCoy is hoping to play tailback in college and has been contacted by Pacific 10 Conference schools Washington, UCLA and Arizona State. But he may become a defensive back or wide receiver in college.

“I really see him more as a Division I wide receiver or defensive back,” Robbins said. “I think those are his best positions for college although I think he could excel at running back. It really bothers me when people say that he doesn’t have Division I size because he has Division I ability.”

McCoy realizes he will have to improve academically if he hopes to earn a college scholarship. He has a 2.4 grade-point average, but needs to pass his Scholastic Aptitude Test, which he plans to take in December.