For the last two years, Davion Roby has been able to play in the shadows behind Antonio Harmon and Azikwe Mays.
But both Harmon and Mays are gone now, so Roby can no longer live in the shadows.
“We are expecting big things out of Davion this season. This will be the first year that he has been the focal point of the offense,” Kosciusko Coach Casey Orr said. “He’s going to have to do some good things for us on offense if we are going to be good on offense. He will have to step up and be that No. 1 receiver for us with Antonio gone.”
Orr said Roby has come a long way this summer already.
“He’s got a little ways to go on the offensive side. He has looked really good in 7-on-7 so far this summer though. Nobody has really been able to stop him one on one and we could basically score with him any time we wanted to. He has run by everybody we have played this summer. But it’s something he has got to work on,” Orr said. “He just didn’t have to be that guy last year with Antonio and Azikwe. But he’s going to have to step up and be the No. 1 guy for us on offense this year. I’m excited to see what he will do now that those guys are gone.”
Orr said it’s a big transition year for Roby as he will have the same situation in basketball, as well.
“It’s basically the same thing in basketball. He’s about the only returning starter and has to take on more of a leadership role. And that’s tough on him because he’s not a very vocal kind of kid. He’s not a big rah-rah guy. But he’s going to have to step up and be one of our leaders,” Orr said. “The leadership role is just a whole different thing for him. Before, he could kind of play in the shadows of those other guys. Now he is the guy casting the shadow and he has to grow into that. He’s plenty talented enough to do that. He generally lets his actions talk for him. But you hope that team leader is something that he grows into.”
While Orr said he would like to see Roby be more vocal, there are things about his personality that he really likes.
“He’s a real even keel kind of guy,” Orr said. “He never gets too high or too low. If he’s having a bad day or a good day, you will never know it. He just goes out and does what he is supposed to do every day and I like that about him. It’s just going to be a different role for him this year.”
While Roby will have to play both sides, Orr said the 6-foot-1 senior has been a standout on defense.
“He battled a hamstring injury early in the year. We didn’t get him rolling until the third game of the season. He came back against Choctaw County and we were a totally different team on defense. The week before, we played Winona and they scored 49 points on us,” Orr said. “I feel like if Davion had been back, we would probably would have won that football game. He’s a solid tackler and is a solid tackler on defense. He will come down and hit you.”
Orr said the thing he likes most about Roby is his physicality.
“He’s not afraid to hit you,” Orr said. “He has a knack for seeing the football and being able to read what the offense is doing. He is physical and will come down hill and strike you. I know you have to defend the pass, but you still have to be able to stop the run and he is a run stopper. He will come down hill with bad intentions.”
Orr said Roby has plenty of interest from the state’s junior colleges and that will be his likely destination. Roby said he has an offer from East Central and has received interest from Holmes, Hinds, Northwest and Copiah-Lincoln.
“I definitely think he’s a junior college guy,” Orr said. “I don’t know what his position is, but I can see him as a walk down guy or a swing safety. The thing he has to do is get better in man coverage. We don’t ask him to play a lot of man, but the jucos want to see if he can play man. That’s what he has to work on.”
Roby said he knows it is his time to step up.
“I know I have to be more of a leader this year. I want to be more of a leader and help us get some more wins. I was mainly a defensive guy last year, but will have to play receiver this year,” said Roby. “It’s been going good this summer. I’m still learning the routes and the steps and all of that kind of stuff. But it’s been going good so far. But I like the defensive side of the football better. I like to hit. I can cover but I like to hit, that’s what I think I do best.”
