Kern Ready to Rumble

“Its going to be a showdown,” commented Clarksdale’s three star linebacker Kenny Kern (6-1, 225-lbs., 4.6) on tonight’s matchup with Cleveland East Side. Both teams have a lot on the line. East side needs to win one of it’s last two games to qualify for the playoffs and Clarksdale needs to win out to maintain home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

Clarksdale (6-1, 4-0 in the division) enters the game ranked #3 in the state by the Clarion Ledger and #5 in the AP poll. They face Grenada next weekend, who is also undefeated in the division.

On the season Kenny has racked up 76 tackles, but feels he could be doing a whole lot better under different circumstances. Clarksdale has had so many lopsided victories this season his playing time has been limited.

"I don’t play but about two quarters," Kenny stated. "I’d have over a hundred tackles, but they won’t let me play the whole game."

With the importance of the remaining games Kern feels like he will get that opportunity and will be ready to perform. "We are conditioned,” he commented," laughing. “They run us in practice like we are playing the whole game.”

Kenny attended the MSU-LSU game and had a few comments on the game and the Bulldog season. “They’re just in a slump I guess, but it will be alright,” he said.

“That’s why they are recruiting me. I’m ready to get out there and play. The defense looked alright.

”The defense is kind of like still there, a couple of breakdowns here and there, that’s it. I wanted to get out on the field and play,” he said with a laugh, “but they wouldn’t let us.”

As with all good players a commitment is just an open invitation to college recruiters to pick up the pace. The situation is no different for Kenny, but he has not been fazed by the process.

”Ole Miss and a couple of other schools are calling and think I am going to change because State is losing, but I pretty much don’t think anything,” he commented. “I just let them do their job, but I am staying committed to State, though.”

Kern also commented on the recent reports of his teammate and close friend Darren Williams wavering on his commitment to MSU. “No, man that ain’t true,” he said. “All that’s kind of false. It was a misunderstanding.

”The Clarksdale paper wrote it wrong. I don’t think Darren said that. It was the way the dude was talking, but he didn’t say all that.”

Look for Darren to play significant minutes in the secondary as Clarksdale faces East Side’s Aries Nelson. “He’ll be on defense, because they’ll be throwing a lot,” Kern said.

Kern should have no problems getting into school. He has a 3.0 GPA and scored a 16 on his first ACT attempt. He will take the test again in the morning.

Editor's Note: AllianceSports will be at this game tonight to watch these three Bulldog recruits.