Wildcat Running Back Has Battled Seniority, Weight, Even Hurricanes to Get Where He Is Today

Darius did not walk into his position as the primary ball-carrier for the Wildcats. He had to earn it, every step of the way.

“I had a couple seniors in front of me last year,” said Daruis.

David Larry and Jonathan Mahan combined for over 1,300 yards and 16 touchdowns last season. Larry averaged over eight yards per carry and over 90 per game. There was no way for Daruis to get more than a couple carries last year.

His second enemy has assailed him since he was a kid: his weight.

“It was always a problem for me, not so much that it made it so I couldn’t play, rather, it made it so that people thought I couldn’t play,” said Darius.

Darius always knew he would be a good running back, he just couldn’t convince anyone else. In Pop Warner football, he would always be one of the offensive linemen. No one thought he could play anything else.

He went to Benito Middle School for sixth and seventh grade and didn’t even make the flag football team because of his weight. Finally, in eighth grade, after transferring to Bartels, one of the PE coaches saw that he could catch and asked him to try out for the flag football team. Darius played wide receiver for the Bartel Tigers flag football team his eighth grade year and that was a turning point in a way.

At Wharton, his weight mired him on the JV team at linebacker. During the summer in between his freshman and sophomore year, he lost 20 pounds.

“That’s when I made it into the backfield, started having fun,” said Darius.

Darius might not ever have been on the Wildcats Varsity team, might not have ever lived in Florida, if it weren’t for Hurricane Katrina.

Darius was born in New Orleans, Louisiana and lived there until August 28, 2005.

“That’s when we started hearing reports on the TV about everybody evacuating,” said Darius.

His mom worked at nearby Methodist Hospital and that’s just where Darius, his mother, and grandmother made it to, just as the streets began to fill with water.

“We got out of there in the nick of time. We watched the water rise from the roof,” said Darius.

Darius, his mom and grandma were in as good a place as you could get when your city is underwater but his dad was stranded across town at the convention center. Darius and company were able to take a helicopter from the hospital roof to relative safety at nearby Kenner and Louis Armstrong Airport. From there, he and his family were flown to Austin, Texas, where, miraculously, they met up with Darius’ father.

“I still don’t know how he found us,” said Darius.

The Pages had to start their lives over from there. According to Darius, their house was under six or seven feet of water. There was no home to go back to, there were no jobs to go back to.

Luckily, they landed in New Tampa and stayed with a family friend for a month or so, then lived out of a hotel room for three months.

“It was fun for the first month, but it got old quick after that,” said Darius.

By then, his parents had found jobs and their lives began to settle down, once again.

Now Darius stands on the other side of all of those road blocks and he will look to knock down some more road blocks on the football field this year. He is the bonafide, every-down back he’s always wanted to be and he’s not about to balk at the opportunity.

“This is it, the year I’ve got to show out,” said Darius.

So far, he’s done just that.

Darius had maybe the only highlight play of Wharton’s spring game against King. He scored the only touchdown in a 19-8 loss off a five-yard sit route and turned it into an 85-yard touchdown.

“I’ve always wanted to prove people wrong, prove to people I could play,” said Darius.

He’s also factored greatly into Wharton’s success at 7 on 7 competitions this year.

“We really like what he’s doing. He’s stepped his game up 100%,” said head coach David Mitchell.

Darius is finally through with fate writing chapters in his book. He finally has the chance to write his own chapter.