It was going to take an extra special effort to stand out among last Friday's prep football performances. Once again, that's exactly what Lee Witherspoon turned in.
North Jackson's senior running back, who has put up video-game type numbers all season, had his biggest game yet with a school-record 373 yards on just 11 carries and seven touchdowns in a 78-12 win over Fairview. He also returned a punt 57 yards for an eighth TD, just one behind the Alabama state record for a single game.
All that allowed Witherspoon, who had just one carry in the second half, to become the first repeat winner of this season's BMW Performance of the Week award.
Lee Witherspoon (5) makes a cut on his way to a touchdown. The North Jackson Chiefs hosted the Scottsboro Wildcats in a rivalry game on September 28, 2018. The 6-foot, 190-pound senior beat out impressive nights turned in by McCallie quarterback DeAngelo Hardy, who rushed for 211 yards and a TD and threw for a TD in an upset of top-ranked Brentwood Academy; Grace Academy's Cade Tinsley, who ran for 201 yards and four TDs in a win; and Whitwell's Hudson Petty, who made 20 tackles, four assists, a tackle for loss and an interception and also tallied 69 total yards with a rushing TD and threw for a score in a 13-7 overtime win at Trousdale County.
In just six games this season, Witherspoon has three of the Chiefs' four all-time 300-yard single-game rushing totals, setting the school record three times already. Easily the tri-state area's rushing and scoring leader, he has gained 1,494 yards on just 65 carries (23 yards per carry) with 26 TDs.
He also has averaged 37.9 yards on nine punt returns, including three taken back for scores, along with a kickoff return for a TD and an interception returned for a score to give him 31 total TDs. He is averaging 335.5 all-purpose yards this season.
Witherspoon is 20 touchdowns behind the state record of 51 in a season. He recently was chosen to play in the Alabama/Mississippi All-Star Classic after the season.
"I've never even heard of anything like what he's doing," Chiefs coach Mark Rose said. "His per-carry average is unreal. He's scoring a touchdown about every other carry. Our offensive front is just smashing people, and we're averaging 14.9 as a team right now."
Witherspoon, who was clocked at 4.38 seconds in the 40-yard dash at one summer camp and finished second in the 100-meter dash at last spring's state meet, visited Mississippi State last weekend. He has an offer from the Bulldogs as well as from Louisville, Middle Tennessee State, UAB, Troy and Arkansas State.
Mississippi State coaches were at North Jackson's practice Monday, and Tennessee has begun recruiting him as well.
North Jackson is on pace to break the state scoring record set in 1926 when the Tuscaloosa Black Bears averaged 59.1 points in nine games. Demopolis averaged 57.7 in 10 regular-season games in 2004. Through their first six games, the Chiefs have averaged 63.8 points and 460 rushing yards - 120 more than the school record for a season.
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.