Kevon Darton was overlooked because he didn’t pass the ‘eye test’

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Most coaches took one look at Kevon Darton’s 5-foot-11 frame and passed. He barely scraped his way to an initial offer from Massachusetts. Boston College had already said no, and UConn, who was in the midst of a 1-11 season, was out of the question for Darton. 

“I’d have to sit him down and say, ‘well, they want you, but you’re gonna walk on,’” Worcester Academy (Massachusetts) head coach Tony Johnson said. “If I’m gonna walk on, I want to go Division-I,” Darton responded. 

Johnson sent out tape. He had a wingspan of someone who was 6-foot-2, and his low center of gravity, combined with a quick jump off the ball impressed former Syracuse defensive coordinator Brian Ward. Johnson also pointed out that Darton was facing linemen who went on to play at Stanford, Penn State and Michigan. 

“He’s just killing these kids,” Johnson said.

Ward, who was looking for preferred walk-ons to offer at Syracuse, said the Orange would take Darton. He finally earned a scholarship in August after redshirting his freshman year and participating in all 12 games last season. When Terry Lockett went down in Syracuse’s win against Virginia, Darton was sprung into the starting role. 

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“He shouldn’t be able to do the things that he does, yet he finds a way to get them done,” SU head coach Dino Babers said.

Darton went from someone Johnson had to defend while talking to Power 5 schools, to a starter against Wagner. From the time he started football in fourth grade with Fitchburg Pop Warner Team, he was always called “the beast,” according to his mother, Brigette. And now Babers refers to him as an animal.

Darton was naturally strong from the beginning, and he began attacking the weight room to bolster his lower-body strength in high school. By the time he graduated, Darton was stronger from the waist down than anyone else in his league. He was the best defensive lineman and a prolific gap-stopper that was quick off the snap.

“He’s able to slip blocks, and he’s able to really read the guard or read the tackle … their demeanor, and basically be able to decipher what they’re about to do,” said Zukudo Igwenagu, one of his high school teammates.

The Hilltoppers were a gap-front team, needing all of their defensive linemen to blow up the gaps. In the momentary pause between when the ball is snapped and when the center moves, Johnson told Darton, then a nose tackle, that he had to win those battles.

Darton quickly gained the ability to combat a double team. His size allowed him to get lower than the opposing offensive linemen before he would turn his shoulder to get through both blockers. 

Darton also had a “phenomenal” double-slot move he utilized in pass-rush situations off the edge. He would slap linemen’s hands down and then simply blow right past them to the quarterback.

With this move, Darton recorded 72 tackles and 10.5 sacks as a senior for Worcester Academy. He was one of the better defensive linemen in a Prep School league going up against larger offensive linemen — and dominating them. 

Darton just didn’t fit the typical mold of a Division-I player. He had the speed, the weight and the wingspan. Brigette said he wasn’t someone that dwelled on the fact that he was smaller. Darton just didn’t pass the “eye test,” Brigette said. 

Johnson said Darton was better than everyone else as a sophomore at St. Peter-Marian High School. Even before he transferred into the prep league, he was blowing up offensive linemen. Once he arrived at Worcester Academy, it took him a year to start tackling people behind the line at a much higher rate, realizing he had to increase his aggressiveness to go up against players who would eventually play on Saturdays and Sundays.

Syracuse tends to add a few preferred walk-ons that it feels can become scholarship players, so Babers took a flier on him. Darton jumped on it. Syracuse was the opportunity to show he belonged at the Power 5 level, Brigitte said. When Darton facetimed his parents on the afternoon of Aug. 8 with excitement and relief plastered across his face, Brigette and Douglas knew. After three years at Syracuse, following Babers’ mantra of being consistently good rather than occasionally great, Darton earned a scholarship.

“He deserved it,” Johnson said. “He goes ‘coach, I can play at this level.’ And I said I know you can.”