National Signing Day: Despite Injuries, Darden Commits to Colorado

Rehabilitating is not the way Jarrod Darden envisioned his senior season at Keller Central to go.  However, after a preseason injury left him with a fractured fibula and a torn ankle tendon, that's exactly how Darden's '08 campaign turned out.  The 6-foot-4, 211-pound wide receiver may have had to watch his teammates from the sidelines, but he did enough in his earlier years to earn himself a scholarship to the University of Colorado.  In his junior year, Darden caught 46 passes for 739 yards and 14 touchdowns to help him become the first football player from Keller Central to sign with a Division-1 program. 

Darden will be the tallest player on the current Buffalo roster when he gets to Boulder and says that was a selling point for him.  "That is one of the reasons I like Colorado, because they don't have anyone like me,"  Darden added.  "They have some guys with a lot of speed, but they don't have anyone with my height."  When Darden made his visit to Colorado last April, he hung out with the receivers and they impressed him with stories of how receivers coach Eric Kiesau had such a good relationship with his players.  Jarrod said he puts a heavy emphasis on the relationship between player and coach and that Kiesau was the kind of coach he could see himself learning from for 4 years. 

Even after Darden verballed to Colorado, colleges such as Stanford and Mississippi still came after him.  That was ok with the senior because he knew he would stay true to his commitment, but was flattered in the interest despite not playing a down in '08.  For now, Darden will keep jogging....keep rehabing and wait for signing day when he can officially become a Colorado Buffalo.

Date of Article: Wed Feb 04, 2009 8:51 am

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