Big Kahnen: West Point's Daniels racking up yards
Sep. 27—Kahnen Daniels isn't going to score a touchdown on every carry, but he sure believes he can.
What the West Point junior will certainly do is eviscerate defenses, as he did Friday in a 59-35 win over Division 1-5A foe Lafayette. Daniels rushed for a career-high 329 yards and four touchdowns on 20 carries — an average of 16.5 yards per carry.
"I just run to score every time," said Daniels, who splits time between quarterback and running back.
Daniels is coming off a breakout 2021 season in which he rushed for 1,025 yards and eight touchdowns — and he was only the team's third-leading rusher.
This season, Daniels is the lead dog. In just four games, he already has 687 yards and nine TDs, averaging 9.2 yards per carry.
Coach Chris Chambless said the main reason for Daniels' jump in productivity is self-confidence.
"As a sophomore he was kind of unsure of himself some, but he still produced for us last year," Chambless said. "But his confidence level has increased big time as far as him knowing that if he gets the ball, he's going to find a hole, (and) he knows where he wants to go with the ball. He sees things more clearly in front of him."
That confidence was borne of the pain Daniels felt when West Point lost in last year's Class 5A state championship game. Picayune held him to 37 rushing yards that day.
"Losing that last game last year really opened my eyes to how much the game really means to me, and I take it really serious," he said.
As for the qualities that have come more naturally to Daniels, there are many.
"He's the epitome of a Green Wave football player," Chambless said. "He's hard-nosed, tough, got a great attitude every day. Good leader, good person, makes good grades. He's got all the characteristics of somebody you'd want. We have other guys like that, too. And he looks the part; he passes the eye test."
As was the case last year, West Point (2-2) has other dangerous runners. Against Lafayette, Keshawn Henley ran for 114 yards and three touchdowns, while Quinterion Tillman-Evans had 101 yards and one score. The Wave totaled 626 yards on the ground.
West Point is averaging 379.5 yards per game. Henley has 305 yards and four TDs, while Tillman-Evans has 298 yards and four TDs.
"We just feed off each other," Daniels said. "It's really not just how many yards we have, we just play to win."
West Point returns to action this week when it visits New Hope (2-2, 0-1).
