By Mike London

mike.london@salisburypost.com

MOUNT ULLA— West Rowan running back Jaylen Neely wasn’t sure in August if he’d be able to play this season.

Yet in last week’s 35-21 playoff road win against Freedom, Neely had 28 workhorse carries for 189 yards and two touchdowns.

“The kid had a serious back injury, so to get almost 200 yards in a playoff game is an amazing effort,” West head coach Louis Kraft said. “There were times when he was a battering ram and there were times when he ran with the precision of a surgeon’s scalpel.”

Neely speaks succinctly, deep and low. It’s a linebacker voice,  not the voice you expect from a 5-foot-8, 170-pound running back. He is not tall, but he has a linebacker build.

He is a super student, 3.9 GPA with college aspirations, and he has paid some dues to get where he is now. Most backs as talented as Neely would have been getting varsity carries as a sophomore, but West was in good shape at running back and Neely had to wait until his junior year to shine. He still has amassed more than 2,200 rushing yards in two seasons. He’s on the verge of his second 1,000-yard season. He has 972 going into Friday’s second-round game at West Charlotte.

“He carried the load for our jayvees as a sophomore,” Kraft said. “If you can do that, you’ve got a chance to be a great varsity player, and he has been.”

Neely recalls that it didn’t take him long to make an impact.

“My first carry as a junior, I went 60 yards against A.L. Brown,” Neely said.

Neely’s junior season included 1,234 rushing yards and 200-yard efforts against Concord and South Rowan. He still believes that Concord game was the finest one he’s played.

“Last year I was juking around a lot and trying to make people miss,” Neely said. “I like to think I can still make people miss, but I’ve added more power to my game this season.”

Linebackers and safeties will testify in court to that. Neely trucked some people in South Piedmont Conference games, but for a while there, it didn’t look like his senior season would get off the ground.

“I got hurt early in the summer,” Neely said. “We were maxing on our squats that day and I did too much. It hurt some, but I thought it was just sore, not a big deal, but then it wasn’t getting any better. It turned out to be a stress fracture. I was in a back brace, with no activity for two months.”

He was cleared just in time to practice two days prior to the season opener against A.L. Brown, and he’s put together another terrific season for the Falcons.

West lost some depth in that opening game with the Wonders. Cooper Martin, who had 95 rushing yards, went down for the season. So when Neely’s gotten a break it has come from receiver Evan Kennedy moving to the backfield or from freshman Devaunh White.

Neely’s season peaked on Friday when the Falcons led Freedom 28-21 late in the game and had two objectives — kill the clock and score the clinching TD.

“That’s our four-minute offense,” Kraft explained. “We’re going to run it between the hashes. Everyone in the stadium knew we were going to run the ball, but we still ran it. Jaylen ran it”

Kennedy had gone down earlier in the game, so it was up to Neely.

“Standing there watching it all was like watching a broadway show in New York City, except there were train wrecks up front on every snap,” Kraft said. “We kept plugging with our offensive line, and Neely was getting north in a hurry. He finally walked it in for the TD that put the game away.”

West (7-4) is given little chance at West Charlotte on Friday — the Falcons are 36-point underdogs by the Massey Ratings — but Neely said the Falcons are preparing to execute the same as always. They are preparing for a fight. They don’t plan to bow out quietly.

“We’re an explosive team any time Neely and Kennedy can touch the ball,” Kraft said. “And we’ve got some other guys who can sneak up on you and stab you in the heart.”