The huge role that Russellville High School graduate CoCo Darden is expected to play for the Western Kentucky University football tea this fall is becoming more and more apparent.
On the first day of spring practice, the defender who was chosen to be interviewed by the press was the former Panther. The only other player brought into them was quarter Drew Eckells.
Then this weekend when the spring game was played, it was Darden that WBKO writer Chad Bishop chose to feature.
Bishop write that Defensive Coordinator Clayton White says Darden “makes everything happen.”
“It’s like Kevin Durant’s MVP speech – he’s our real MVP,” White said Thursday of Darden. “He really is the ultimate college football player that you really want. He does everything right 99 percent of the time. He’s kind of our leader, really, to be honest with you. He’s really taken control of that position.”
After an outstanding career as the Panther quarterback and defensive back in which he was named Kentucky Class !A Player of the Year, Darden went to WKU as a preferred walk-on Then-coach Jeff Brohm liked what he saw, but Darden’s lack of height stood between him and being heavily recruited.
He was redshirted as a true freshman. Defensive Coordinator Nick Holt started using him more at the end of his second year. He was awarded a scholarship during preseason camp last fall, and played extensively. In fact, he finished fourth on the team in total tackles with 71 and broke up six passes.
Bishop wrote, “Darden, now a redshirt-junior, has gone from a walk-on out of Russellville High School to WKU’s defensive guru from his nickelback position… The 5-foot-9, 180-pound defensive back is a proven weapon inside White’s 4-2-5 system.”
“He brings so much peer pressure as far as just doing things right,” White said.
The WBKO article says that Darden is the heart of a Western secondary that has a chance to be dominant given its depth, experience, talent and versatility. Kyle Bailey, Roger Cray, DeAndre Farris, Drell Greene, Devon Key and Antwon Kincade all logged valuable game experience last season. Key and Greene were second and third, respectively, on the team in stops.
CoCo prefers to talk about the defense he leads instead of himself. "We've improved a lot," Darden said. "Coming in the first practice, a little shaky, new guys coming in. Now they getting the plays down and now they're out there making plays."