At 6'3, 220 lbs. he should have the size to block, and thus fit in pretty well with this offense.
Interesting that Mason recruited him back in '09.
Texas-bound running back Traylon Shead emerges from small town with historic statistics
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By RAINER SABIN / The Dallas Morning
[email protected]http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/college-sports/texas-longhorns/20091211-Texas-bound-running-back-Traylon-Shead-6490.ecePublished: 11 December 2009 11:34 AM
BETHEL - It's not exactly a hideaway. But it isn't easy to find. Look down at the GPS at the wrong time, and there is a good chance the town will appear in the rear-view mirror. There is no stoplight. The post office is staffed by one man. The fast-food joints and chain hotels that seem to be everywhere else are absent here.
Cayuga, population 760, is 88 miles southeast of Dallas. Even the high school that bears its name isn't in Cayuga. It's in smaller, nearby Bethel, and draws students from seven communities. Cayuga is a world away from the big city, from big everything.
Well, not exactly everything. There is this running back.
His name is Traylon Shead. He's a major prospect, and he's the reason people who live nowhere near Cayuga have heard of it. On this day, the student population of Cayuga High School - all 193 of it - has turned out to see the senior in the designer T-shirt and blue jeans officially receive his invitation to the U.S. Army All-American Bowl.They have all seen his exploits. Those breathtaking runs across the field. The dominant performances that transformed a football program bereft of a playoff victory until 2007 into a state title contender. The state-record 139 touchdowns he has collected as a varsity player. The 9,930 career rushing yards, a total that only one player in Texas high school football has exceeded.
"For someone to accumulate those in four years, that's something special," said Cayuga coach Tommy Allison. "Anytime he has the ball in his hands he has the chance to hit a home run."
All of Shead's achievements and memorable moments would be hard to believe if they were occurring in an earlier era. But today, besides newspaper accounts of his games, there are highlight videos on the Internet for the world to see. The most famous recruiting service, Rivals.com, rates Shead as the nation's18th-best running back. Recruiting followers know he's 6-2, 215 pounds, runs the 40-yard dash in 4.5 seconds, benches 400 pounds and squats 515.
Oh, there's one more thing: He's going to play at Texas.
Maybe in a time when information wasn't so readily available, maybe a half-century ago, Shead would have been an elusive legend, a Paul Bunyan of the gridiron few would ever see. He could have been Ken Hall, "The Sugar Land Express," who rushed for 11,232 yards from 1950-1953.
"The world was quite a bit larger back in those days," Hall said from his home in Fredericksburg. "The communication system was isolated in a neighborly manner."
These days, Hall is approaching 74. His birthday is Sunday. Over the years, he has realized just how large the footprint was he left behind. His career may have flatlined at Texas A&M and in the pros. But he knows he will be remembered for the handful of national benchmarks he established. He is reminded of them every so often and especially now that Shead has closed in on his most prestigious record. Occasionally, friends will drop off newspaper clippings and update Hall on Shead's progress.
"I have heard he's a very fine athlete and a good person," Hall said.
But Shead doesn't even know the name of the man ghost he's chasing. Then again, he says he's focused only on the challenge Cayuga (12-1) will face in a Class A Division II semifinal showdown with Ganado (9-4) today in Shenandoah.
"It's all about the ring," he said.
Shead's devotion to the Wildcats is real. His twin brother, Tramon, is an offensive lineman. His father, Bill, is the principal here. A football coach for two decades, Bill, 58, spent most of his life in Cayuga. When Traylon was young, Bill noticed his son was hyperactive.
"He loved to run," Bill said. "Just run, run, run."
Initially, Shead played soccer. Then, he turned to basketball. But after feeling constrained within 94 feet of hardwood, he discovered a longer, wider football field was a place where he could be creative, where he could improvise, where he could be an artist and turn nothing into something. For Shead, the green turf was a blank canvas.
"You can use it all," he said.
And over the years, he has - gobbling up yards and scoring touchdowns in bulk. All the while, people have flocked to Cayuga to catch a glimpse of Shead. Sure, there was visual evidence of his virtuoso performances. But they had to see him run with their own eyes. Was he really Superman? The Cayuga Comet?
"Nope," he said with a smile. "I'm just a country boy."
TRAYLON SHEAD'S STATS
Year Att Yds Avg TD
2006 141 1,282 9.1 17
2007 247 2,810 11.4 33
2008 390 3,504 9.0 53
2009 240 2,334 9.8 33
Total 1,018 9,930 9.75 136
TEXAS CAREER RUSHING LEADERS
Player School Years Yards
Kenneth Hall Sugar Land 1950-53 11,232
Traylon Shead Cayuga 2006-09 9,930
Wes Danaher CC Calallen 1992-95 8,855
Rodney Thomas Groveton 1987-90 8,441
Cedric Benson Midland Lee 1998-2000 8,418
Robert Strait Cuero 1985-88 8,411
Jacquizz Rodgers Lamar Consolidated 2004-07 8,246