Damian Baker doesn’t know any other way.
Regardless of whether the Columbus High School football team is playing New Hope, Horn Lake, or South Panola, Baker is going to come at you at full speed and dare you to stop him.
After coming up working in the I-formation, though, Baker has adjusted and thrived this season out of a shotgun attack that has helped Columbus (6-3, 3-2 Class 6A, Region 1) position itself to make the playoffs for the first time since 2005.
Baker has played an integral part in that playoff push. The senior running back rushed for 226 yards and two touchdowns Friday night to help Columbus beat Horn Lake 41-21 in a key region game.
Baker had the biggest play of the evening when he bounced back up after falling on a tackler and raced the rest of the way for a 70-yard score that snapped a 21-all tie and propelled the Falcons.
“I guess Baker brought the life back to us with that play,” Columbus coach Tony Stanford said.
For his accomplishments, Baker is The Dispatch Prep Player of the Week.
Baker has been a fixture on the varsity team ever since he started as an eighth-grade outside linebacker in the spring game. When the fall season rolled around, Baker found himself at a new position — running back — and with a new directive. His background as a defensive player helped mold the hard-charging style that makes many people think Baker, who is 5-foot-9, 170 pounds, is a bigger back.
“I have had some good running backs. … He is right there (with the best),” Stanford said. “He is going to run hard every time you give it to him and he is not going to give up.
“A lot of the coaches who call me think he is 200 pounds. He is about 170. He runs like a 200-pounder. We’re lucky to have him.”
Baker said he initially was asked to play fullback but transitioned to tailback as a freshman. He welcomed the opportunity to use his quickness and his fondness for contact doing more than running inside traps and dives, and he soon discovered he was pretty good at running over people and making them miss.
Baker has honed that physical style and learned to complement it with better field vision. He said he also has a better understanding of when to welcome contact and when to save himself for the next confrontation. Judging from his freshness Friday on a 31-carry evening, Baker’s plan is working.
“I run with my heart because I have a passion for the sport,” Baker said. “I give it my all.”
Baker feels his he is more elusive than when he first started playing running back. While he doesn’t have elite sprinter’s speed, Baker’s escapability adds tenths of seconds to his speed and his size and shiftiness allow him to hide behind his offensive linemen and dart in and out of holes.
“When I moved up to varsity I realized I couldn’t outrun everybody and I had to get elusive,” Baker said. “I had to improve my footwork to make people miss tackles.”
Baker showcased his ability to make more out of plays at least three times Friday night. Not only did he pull free from attempts to pull him down by the shirt, but his awareness when a whistle didn’t blow on the attempted tackle in the third quarter that went for a touchdown changed the game.
“I said in my mind, ‘Hey offense, we have to go do it,’ ” said Baker, who relished the chance to play smash-mouth football against Horn Lake. He had 11 carries in the first quarter, including a 3-yard touchdown, that helped Columbus build a 14-0 lead.
Columbus High offensive coordinator Jeremy Orsagh said Baker’s willingness to buy into the Falcons’ shotgun attack has helped him become more marketable to college coaches who are looking for versatile running backs. He said Baker was accustomed to a downhill running style out of the I-formation and needed time to adjust to making the reads from the gun.
“There were times he was frustrated and he was having trouble with the running scheme we were using,” Orsagh said. “Now he has got a little more patient. For a while, I didn’t know if he was going to do it. I kept thinking if he will just start to believe in the things we’re asking him to do he is going to be one heck of a back. Over the course of the spring and the summer he has worked on his steps and his understanding of what we’re doing. He has bought into making those reads, and those are the things big-time running backs are doing.”
Orsagh agrees with Stanford that it is easy to assume Baker is bigger than what is listed on the Columbus High roster. He is confident Baker will be able to put 20-30 pounds on his frame and not lose any of the quickness or power that has made him so successful with the Falcons. In fact, he feels Baker has the potential to compete at the highest level of college football. All it will take, he said, is a coach watching Baker play and giving him a chance to mature into the running back he knows he can become.
“He gives us the best of both,” Orsagh said. “He can get behind a bigger line and then poke his head out and then he can run like a 220-pound back. He is going to have a lot of success in college. He has too much drive and too much natural ability.”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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