Dillard's McClover is still eager to learn
By Steve Gorten
Staff Writer
Posted October 19 2004
Fort Lauderdale · When receiver Chris McClover heard the call in Dillard's huddle before the first play of overtime against Plantation, he thought one thing.
"Got them."
He already knew he would score the winning touchdown in that game two weeks ago, he said. And he did, snatching the pass over a defender while falling in the left corner of the end zone. No surprise to him.
"This is my mind-set: I feel I'm the best receiver in the county," said McClover, who has 21 catches for 254 yards and four touchdowns, most tallied in the past three games. "Can't nobody stick me. I proved it at the Nike camp [at the University of Miami in April]. As I'm lining up, I'm already feeling No. 8 can't be stopped. I've been double covered and still done my thing."
McClover, a 6-foot-3, 180-pound senior, calls his performance against Plantation, then ranked No. 4, "my breakout game." He caught nine passes for 72 yards. The previous week, he had seven grabs for 82 yards and two touchdowns in a District 14-5A win against Northeast.
"He's very confident," said Dillard coach Keith Franklin. "I wouldn't call him cocky now, because he's a kid that can back it up. He's always out to prove you wrong. That's one thing I like about him. He's got some fight in him."
Franklin emphasized that McClover, who rarely played last season, is still progressing -- on and off the field. He was suspended for the first quarter of last Friday night's loss at St. Thomas Aquinas for violating a team rule, Franklin said.
"It felt crazy sitting on the sidelines," McClover said. "The first bomb [for an incompletion], I just knew I would have caught that."
"He understood [the suspension], but it also cost us," Franklin said. "It's hard as a coach to have one of your better players on the sideline, but one thing we teach here is that nobody is bigger than the program. So we had to make a statement to Chris. And he bounced back and had a decent game."
McClover finished with two catches for 63 yards, the first being a 56-yard touchdown from backup quarterback Xavier Sutton with 5:56 left in the third quarter. Earlier in the week, St. Thomas defensive backs Keiron Brown and John Rulien singled out McClover as their focus.
"We're keying on him a lot," Brown said. "We know we have to stop him."
St. Thomas coach George Smith said his defense played hard against the Panthers' top playmaker, but starting quarterback Terrall Robinson's knee injury and the rotation of two other quarterbacks also affected McClover's production.
Robinson's immediate status is uncertain, Franklin said Monday. His health, along with the presence of complementary receivers Derrick Smith, Dwight Smart and Lavar Harper, has helped McClover's emergence, Franklin added.
"We spread them out and then you've got to almost pick your poison," he said.
So has McClover's constant appetite for improving and learning new moves, the coach said. The advantage McClover has over other tall receivers, Franklin said, is that he knows how to use his height. He's still "raw," though.
McClover, cousin of Auburn defensive end and Dillard alum Stanley McClover, wasn't a factor last season. McClover said he feels he wasn't really given a chance as a junior, but that Franklin has given him one.
Before spring practice, Franklin asked him in class one day who he thought would start at receiver.
"Me," McClover said.
"Who else?"
"Me."
"Can you handle starting in a game?" Franklin asked.
"Yeah. All you have to do is feed it to me."
McClover has received the bulk of Robinson's passes, and he's become a playmaker who can turn 5-yard outs into large gains, as well as a deep threat.
"I'm going to work [defenders] hard all game long," McClover said. "Especially if they're playing man-to-man. I'm going to run at them hard, sometimes block them. I'm always focused, too. ... The hard work has paid off, but I still feel I can put out a little more."