Player of the Week: Taylorsville junior RB Cobey Craft

TAYLORSVILLE, Miss. (WDAM) - Cobey Craft can be a jack of all trades for Taylorsville High School.

“Whatever I gotta do, I’ll do it,” Craft said. “They need me to be a receiver, they need me to play center, I got ‘em. Whatever it takes to get the ‘W.’”

But Cobey is master of his craft at running back.

The junior leads the Tartars with 1,567 yards rushing and 33 touchdowns, adding 185 yards and three scores to his resume in Taylorville’s win Friday over Vardaman High School.

“He’s kind of our spark plug,” said first-year head coach Seth McDonald. “If we’re able to run the football and control the clock, then that really helps us out, offensively, and able to control the game. He’s definitely done more than that for us this year.”

Craft may be the head of the snake, but Taylorsville has grown as a team because of their buy-in to the teachings of Coach McDonald.

After losing three of their first f four games, the Tartars are starting to play their best football.

“Obviously, early in the year we played a tough non-division schedule,” McDonald said. “Our first four were brutal. So we took our lumps early, but later on throughout the year we started seeing some success and seeing the guys buy in to what we’re coaching them to do.”

It’s no surprise to see Taylorsville still standing in November, a program with three state titles since 2017.

A new challenger awaits Friday, a road trip to undefeated Hamilton High School (12-0). The Lions are led by 2,000-yard rusher Kyzer Verner.

“We’ve gotta be really physical up front,” McDonald said. “They’ve got big offensive and defensive lines, so it’s going to be a real tough challenge for us. I think our guys are up to the challenge, just gotta go up there and compete and be physical, and like I said, be able to run the football.”

Craft said he and the Tartars were just happy to be able to take their game to the field for another Friday night of football.

“You know, we used it as motivation because a lot of teams don’t get this chance to play,” Craft said. “So, we’re just grateful that we’re still playing.”

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