Strickland is HNT Defensive Football Player of Year
Given the construct of the South Brunswick High School football team’s triple option, Dontae Strickland’s opportunities to make an impact on offense were, compared to other big-time playmakers, limited.
Strickland almost always made the most of his chances – rushing 102 times for 1,200 yards and 17 touchdowns – ending the 2014 campaign as the Greater Middlesex Conference’s fourth-leading rusher despite having fewer carries than any of the top 16 running backs.
On those rare occasions throughout a brilliant career when he was limited– such as last weekend’s Central Group V championship game, in which Strickland was held to a season-low 19 yards on nine attempts – Strickland always made his presence felt on defense.
“That just shows they did a good job of containing him offensively,” South Brunswick coach Joe Goerge said of Manalapan frustrating Strickland, who did score his team’s lone touchdown in the 21-7 sectional final defeat. “He wasn’t really able to have that breakaway kind of game where he has been doing that at least twice a game for us. On the other side of it, he came up with some big plays on defense.”
The senior running back and defensive back delivered a bone-crushing sack that caused a fumble on a blind-side quarterback blitz and later inflicted damage upon the same signal caller with an interception, his team-leading seventh of the season.
He finished with 14 tackles despite, unbeknown to those outside of South Brunswick’s camp, missing nearly the entire week of practice leading up to the championship game with illness.
Strickland, who has accepted a scholarship offer from Syracuse University, where the Orange plan on using him as a running back, is the Home News Tribune’s 2014 All-Area Football Defensive Player of the Year.
“Obviously Dontae is known for his offense, but when you look at the year he had defensively, it kind of shows you what kind of two-way player he really is,” Goerge said. “When he gets to the next level he’s going to play offense, but he could certainly play defense.”
From his safety position, Strickland anchored one of the state’s best defensive backfields, which also featured Rutgers University commit Mo Jabbie.
He posted 61 tackles from the secondary, including five for a loss. Strickland also registered four sacks, forced two fumbles and recovered a loose ball.
He was equally proficient on special teams, rolling up 501 return yards on kickoffs and punts.
Strickland scored 22 touchdowns six different ways: rushing, receiving, on an interception return, on a fumble return, on a kickoff return and on a punt return.
“He is just a true outstanding high school level elite three-way performer,” Goerge said. “It’s hard not to see him on the field on offense or defense and not notice him on either side of the ball, as well as special teams.”
Goerge said he wondered what Strickland’s productivity might have been in a different type of offense.
“If you fed him 25 times a game, who knows what he could have ran for,” the coach said, noting Strickland averaged an area-leading 11.8 yards per carry. “But that was what (South Brunswick’s) offense is, and I think he understands. On a good team in a good conference, we had other guys to complement him, obviously, but he is still the one guy that could change the whole complexion of the game on three sides of the ball.
“Defensively, we never took him for granted. Week in and week out he would perform at such a high level.”
Staff writer Greg Tufaro: gtufaro@mycentraljersey.com