BACK OF THE YEAR / DURELL PRICE : Value to Sylmar Was Priceless

The high school football season is over and the championship round of the college recruiting game has begun.

And to the victor will go Sylmar High running back Durell Price, who earned distinction as The Times’ Valley back of the year for the second consecutive season.

Since the middle of his sophomore season, Price has been receiving letters from college football coaches everywhere and has visited Ohio State with trips to USC, Colorado, Nebraska and Washington pending.

“Everybody’s drooling over him,” Sylmar Coach Jeff Engilman said.

With a powerful 6-foot-2, 220-pound frame and breakaway speed, Price hasn’t exactly been a well-kept secret.

In three years, Price has rushed for 4,135 yards and scored 78 touchdowns. But perhaps the most impressive statistic is his average of 10 yards per carry.

After being named City Section 4-A Division player of the year in 1994, Price continued to roll in his senior season. With 1,659 yards and 36 touchdowns in 180 carries, he averaged a touchdown every fifth time he touched the ball.

“I think I became a better running back [this year],” said Price, who as a sophomore played behind Tyrone Crenshaw, now at Michigan State. “My mind started thinking like a running back instead of a fullback.”

This season, Engilman had Price also thinking and playing like a blue-chip linebacker. After losing all his linebackers to graduation, Engilman was forced to use Price at middle linebacker full time.

“On defense, we couldn’t operate [without him],” Engilman said.

Price has made it clear to recruiters that he plans on being a college running back. Period.

“If I’m at running back, I can win the game for them if the ball is in my hands,” Price said. “I know how to get in the end zone and I think I’m a bigger asset to the team that way.”

Considering that Sylmar lost only one of 26 games since Price has been the starting running back, he has a point.

Make that an exclamation point.