Clayton Leathers is an easy person to find in the summertime.
If he is not lifting weights or practicing basketball, he is working on the French Camp campus for the maintenance department. He is also the latest addition to The Star-Herald Top 10 Players to Watch for the 2018 football season.
Leathers was the leader of the French Camp defense last year, posting a team-high 85 tackles after settling in at middle linebacker.
“No doubt, he is the leader of our defense,” French Camp coach Nathan Wright said. “Last year, we didn’t know who that guy would be and by three games into the year, he was the guy at middle linebacker. He played it all year and did a good job for us.
“He got hurt right at the end of the year, which really affected us.”
By the time Leathers settled in at middle linebacker, the 5-foot-11, 180-pounder helped lead the Panthers to six straight wins and a second-place finish in division play.
“He is coming into his second year at middle linebacker,” Wright said. “We are not going to have nearly as much work as we did before, with him. He kind of falls in that groove well and knows what to do.”
While Leathers has played primarily on defense the last two years, Wright said he is going to need his senior on offense as well.
“He didn’t see offensive time last year, but this year we will have to play him on the offensive side of the ball,” Wright said. “We have got to find a place for him on offense.
He is one of those guys that can do a lot of things. He can run, he can jump and he can catch. He is also a physical guy. He could play fullback or even tight end. We played with a lot of different stuff in the spring with him, seeing what we could do with him. I think it will end up being a tight end. We may go back to some old-school stuff and that certainly includes him.”
Leathers is also a three-sport starter for French Camp. In basketball, Leathers is a shooting guard and averaged about 10 points a game. In baseball, Leathers played third base and catcher, and ended the season with a .360 batting average.
“I have been playing sports here since the seventh grade,” Leathers said. “I like the physicality of football. It moves a little bit faster than some other sports like baseball.
You have to read it really fast and react to what you see.”
Wright said playing three sports fits Leathers.
“He has always played all three sports,” Wright said. “He lives in Kosciusko, so he wants to be here. He works on campus for us. He comes to workouts at 5:30 a.m. and goes and works. He does basketball after lunch and then we will do some 7-on-7 stuff in the afternoon. He is here all day, every day. His folks know where he is going to be.”
His dedication to all three sports shows his work ethic.
“He’s hard working and is going to do the little things you ask him to do,” Wright said. “He’s one of those kids that gets under the other kids’ skin, because he’s that kind of guy. He is going to be at practice and is going to be on time. He is going to lead in drills. He’s just that type of guy.”
Leathers said that after he graduates, he is going to take a “gap” year where he works and takes some online classes before going to school full time.
When he is not playing sports, Leathers said he likes to be outdoors.
“I like hunting and fishing, and trying different things,” Leathers said. “I’m a pretty big deer hunter and like to rabbit hunt. My second cousin has dogs, so we go a good bit.
I like to bass and crappie fish. I probably like crappie fishing better. We go to Grenada a good bit. And as far as different stuff, I have been hiking in Arkansas and we camped out there. I just like being outdoors.”
