"I love contact," added the 5' 10", 195 pound
tailback. "I am basically a power runner, but I have speed and elusiveness
too."
Dixie County head coach, Brett Wilkerson, agrees.
"He's a good all-around running back," he
notes. "A lot of people consider him a speed back and they talk about his
hips and feet, and he does have great hips and feet, but what I love about him
is how physical he is. He knows how to plant his foot when it's time to get north
and south. He knows how to attack inside shoulders. He's a kid that hardly ever
runs out of bounds. He's going to get every yard he can." "To me
he's a complete running back," Wilkerson says. "He's not a scatback.
Some people want to consider him an all-purpose back, but to me he's a running
back. He's a plant that foot running back, but his speed is where they get that
from. He doesn't get caught from behind.” That speed and elusiveness
helped Rodney Scott rush for over 5,300 yards the past three seasons.
"I
missed a couple of games this year which hurt my rushing numbers a little bit
(1, 151 rushing yards and 24 TD's), but I feel like I really improved my hands
this year. I caught the ball a lot better. I had over 300 yards receiving, and
I also played a little CB."
Rodney was offered by a host of schools
entering his senior season by schools like Auburn, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Georgia Tech, MSU, Vandy, Purdue, South Florida, and Clemson, but he decided to cast his
lot with Auburn last spring.
"They had been recruited me really hard
from the end of my junior season," added Rodney. "It seemed like the
place for me, at the time."
After the dust had settled, Scott had
become interested in a few more colleges last summer, and decided to reopen his
recruitment.
"I just needed to make sure I was making the right decision.
I wanted to look around and see what other opportunities were out there."
Auburn
ended up dismissing Coach Tuberville, and there was one school in particular who
was hoping to capitalize.
"I have a good relationship with Coach Vaughn
at Ole Miss. We talk almost every night. He is real cool, and a nice person to
be around. I can see myself with him for my future. If I go to Ole Miss, he can
be like a second father to me away from home."
Rodney has only scheduled
one official visit up to this point.
"I am going to Ole Miss this
weekend. I want to meet all of the coaches and see if I fit in. I want to meet
the players and see if I fit in with them too. I just want to basically see if
I like it enough to commit."
Who else is involved right now?
"Clemson,
Auburn, and South Florida."
Clemson has also turned up the heat as
of late.
"When Tub got fired, they called me the next morning and
asked me if I would be interested in taking a visit. I told them I would get back
to them after I got back from Ole Miss."
Where does this leave Auburn?
"Basically
when Tub left, it turned me the other direction. They use to run the ball a lot,.
I do not think the new guy is going to do what Coach Tub did."
South
Florida was a school that really turned Scott's head this summer. Where do the
Bulls stand?
"They have been recruiting me every since I committed
to Auburn. They started calling me as soon as Coach Tub was let go, and they wanted
to know if I was still interested in them or not. It is close to home, but that
does not matter because I am not longer committed."
Rodney has not
given his commitment to take anymore visits after Ole Miss because he knows there
is a chance that it might be his last visit
"I already know what their
coaches are all about. I just want to see if they are going to run the ball, and
if I can get some early playing time. If I like what I see, that is where I will
probably end up. If I think I need to see some more places after Ole Miss, I will
let them know that I am going to visit, but something just feels right about them
right now. I am bringing both of my parents with me to check it out and hopefully
it all works out like we are expecting it to."
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