Malone's speed sets him apart
Keiwone Malone
Off the field, Keiwone Malone isn't fast.
"He's the last one on the field. Always," Nathan Cole, the head coach at Mitchell (Memphis) High School, said last week of his star receiver. "In one of our recent games, we were warming up and we were waiting on this guy and it's 20-something degrees outside. It's cold. I thought this guy was trying to stay in there. I ran back in the locker room, and this guy is in there putting on some leggings. He just takes his time getting dressed."
The wait, however, is almost always worth it.
The 6-foot, 160-pound wideout knows how to put on a show once he's fixed up and ready to go. Prior to Friday night's home game against Kingsbury, Malone had racked up 731 yards and 12 touchdowns on 36 catches, averaging 21.3 yards per catch and 104 receiving yards per game. He added an 18-yard touchdown reception in Mitchell's 40-19 win over Kingsbury.
"If you look at him, he's slim," Cole said, "but if you watch him play, he's amazing. Just throw the ball up. He's like a [Larry] Fitzgerald [of the NFL's Arizona Cardinals], but Fitzgerald has a lot of weight on him."
Malone is used to hearing the critique about him being too small to play football. For the standout senior, ranked No. 92 on the ESPNU 150 and No. 15 among receivers, that only serves as extra motivation.
"I know that I'm too small, but I'm working on it," said the pass-catching phenom. "I just don't listen when people tell me I'm too small. It ain't about the size of the dog, it's about the fight in the dog. I have a big heart."
Malone, who missed one game this fall because of the flu, has helped Mitchell to a 7-2 record. The two losses were by a combined four points.
"As a coach, it's good to know when you need something, you can go to this guy, and he'll come through for you," Cole said. "He knows the game of football, and this year he's come out and shown people he can run. That was one of the questions about him before this season. Can the kid run? Well, down at the Ole Miss camp, he ran a 4.49 [in the 40] standing up in a receiver's stance. So you tell me if he can run.
"As far as catching the ball, he has great hands."
What's even more amazing about Malone is that he's doing it this fall while facing double and sometimes triple coverage. Still, Malone finds a way to make plays. A lot of it has to do with his own self-determination.
"He has gotten mentally stronger," Cole said. "He seems more focused this year. This summer we went to about three camps, and I was observing him at those camps and he was challenging every top defensive back the camp had brought out. He was kind of preparing himself then during the summer by going against the best defensive backs."
As far as Cole is concerned, Malone is one of the best he's coached at that position -- and Cole has seen plenty of pass-catchers since he began coaching in 1984. The only other former pupil of his on par with Malone, Cole said, is Damien Dotson, who went on to play for Memphis State, as it was known back then, in the 1990s before moving on to the Canadian Football League.
"Keiwone's up there at the top -- one or two," Cole said.
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Off the field, Malone is about as low-key as they come. Forget the star athlete persona. Malone lets his play on the field do all his talking for him.
"He's very humble," Cole said of Malone. "If you didn't know him, if you didn't know Keiwone, you would never know he was Keiwone Malone. We talk about that all the time. Your name is out there, so you've got to kind of walk the part. But he's just being himself. He's a down-to-earth type person."
Unlike Dotson, who stayed close to home for his college ball, Malone has elected to venture to Alabama for his college football experience. He was the Tide's first 2010 commitment, pledging just a day after the 2009 signing class inked in February.
He committed early, he said, to help take the pressure off so he could better concentrate on his academics. He also knew enough about Alabama and its offense then to know that's where he wanted to be.
"I like the way Alabama runs the ball, because it opens up the passing game a lot," said Malone, who attended Alabama's home game against Tennessee on Saturday. "When I get there, I can help free up Julio [Jones] from double coverage. And Coach [Nick] Saban is a great coach. I feel like Coach Saban can develop me as a person and as a man."
Cole has a hunch Malone's playing career isn't going to stop once he finishes in Tuscaloosa.
"If Keiwone gets his mind on what he wants to, Keiwone can play on Sundays," the coach said.
For now, though, with Malone still winding down his senior season, Alabama and the NFL are just going to have to wait.
Of course, waiting on Malone is what everybody seems to do anyway.
Erik Stinnett is the senior writer for CrimsonConfidential.com.
