Lumberton holds a valuable tradition of hard-hitting defensive players who lead its program.
But four years ago, the Panthers’ new leader on the defensive side of the ball would have been by no means the first choice.
For three years, Kaydon Graham was undersized, standing just 5-foot-6, but played with intensity.
“The big thing was his physicality,” Lumberton coach Jonathan Ladner said. “He’s never been a kid to shy away from contact, but being 150 pounds and trying to take on 250-pound linemen, you are going to lose almost 10 out of 10 times. But now that he has bulked up, he’s able to stalemate those guys in the run game a lot better.”
But just before his upcoming senior year, Graham shot up four inches, and in the last two years, he has put on 40 pounds of muscle, standing at 5-foot-10 and 197 pounds.
“I started focusing on putting on muscle and doing stuff outside of football,” Graham said. “It’s a lot of drinking protein shakes. I’ve been eating really good because they told me that if I had a shot of ever being a starter, I would need to put a little more weight on because of my size and how small I was. I wasn’t going to be able to function with the bigger guys on the field. So I had to put a mindset inside my head to start eating a little bit more and doing a little more.”
For his first two seasons, Graham moved back and forth from offense to defense, trying to find his best role on the field. But his skillset matched that of a linebacker, which he physically wasn’t suited to do.
“Kayden was a guy whose freshman year was a process of trying to figure out what he was because he was so small and undersized,” Ladner said. “He wasn’t a lineman. He wasn’t a linebacker. He didn’t have the skillset to be a defensive back. Was he a running back or a tight end? We could never peg anything, and did the kid an injustice because we bounced him around. I swear he was in every group.
“He got frustrated as a freshman. Then as a sophomore he played a lot of special teams. He gave us some depths in some spots, but didn’t play a lot. Then boom, last year he kind of filled out and his mindset changed. He loves working out and bulked up to 170 pounds, which is a lot of weight for him considering he was only like 150.”
So, prior to last season, Graham began to transform his body and tacked on 20 pounds of muscle just before his junior year.
“I finally knew how to control my body, and I knew what to do with it,” said Graham, who recorded 52 tackles last season.
Graham will look to replace Amir Hill, who put up more than 100 tackles and was an all-state selection. Graham will take over Hill’s job as a hybrid outside linebacker and defensive end. In addition, the senior will also take snaps at tight end.
“I want to be similar to Amir because he was a physical player,” Graham said. “I would almost compare myself to him, but I want to be a little bit better.
“I want to fly faster on the field and get there quicker.”
Ironically, because of how big he has become, Graham will also take snaps at tight end – which is something Hill wasn’t asked to do.
“We had our physicals he was at 197 and that’s huge for him to carry that weight and have not slowed down,” Ladner said. “He’ll play some of that hybrid H back type of guy that’s flex where you did a little bit of blocking. We include you in the passing game so we’re asking him to do a lot of different things.
“He’s a guy that we have to have on the field because he’s such a good player. I’m excited for the kid because of all the work he has put in.”
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