North Jackson's Lee Witherspoon avoids the tackle of Scottsboro's Coleman Johnson during a home game for Witherspoon and the Chiefs on Sept. 28.With one regular-season game remaining for Alabama high school football teams, North Jackson already has locked up the Region 7-4A title and is on the cusp of rewriting a couple of state records.
Senior running back Lee Witherspoon has 2,166 rushing yards - he has averaged 22.1 yards per carry - and 49 touchdowns in nine games. His touchdowns total is four behind the Alabama state record heading into tonight's regular-season finale at Arab.
Witherspoon, who finished second in last year's state track meet in the 100-meter dash and has scholarship offers from Louisville, Mississippi State and Virginia Tech among others, has been chosen to play in the annual Alabama-Mississippi all-star game after the season.
"He's as good as any back we've ever had here," Chiefs coach Mark Rose said. "He's got elite speed. If he gets half a step, he's gone to the house. You ain't catching him."
Before transferring to North Jackson (9-0, 7-0) from a school in Birmingham, Witherspoon had not played running back in his varsity career.
"When you consider he's learned how to play the position just this year, it's really unbelievable what he's doing," Rose added.
Also, unless the Chiefs get shut out tonight at Arab, which comes in with a 1-8 overall record, they will break the state record for points scored in a season. North Jackson has averaged 64 points per game and is just one point behind the current state record of 577.
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.