BENTONVILLE -- Logan Darby knows the first thing he has to do as a safety is carry out his assignment, which is to concentrate on stopping the opponents' passing game.
There's always that part of him, though, that wants to do a little extra if needed.
At A Glance
Logan Darby
School: Bentonville
Class: Junior
Height: 5-11
Weight: 154
Notable: His 27 tackles through the first three games puts him second on the team behind linebacker Harrison Rooney. … Played receiver and cornerback in junior high before he moved to safety in the high school ranks.
"Of course, I'm going to do my job of covering and doing what I need to do to help the team out," the Bentonville junior said. "But I do like to come up and fit and bring a new kind of play for defensive backs -- try to make those big tackles the linebackers are going to make. But I'm still going to cover my guy."
Those are pretty big words for a player whose teammates told him he needed to get bigger. Darby is listed on Bentonville's football roster as 5-foot-11 and 154 pounds, and even Tigers coach Barry Lunney referred to him as "a peanut."
What he doesn't have in size, he makes up for it with his aggressive nature and his passion for the game.
"He loves playing the game of football," Lunney said. "You can tell it means something to him, and that's the kind of kids you want out on the football field. He's focused.
"When I talk or another coach talks, his eyes never come off them. He locks in. When I tell them to call it up at the end of practice and I want everybody to be looking at me, I usually have to say 'give me your eyes.' I don't have to worry about him."
Darby played safety as early as seventh grade, and his father even played safety in high school. He was moved to receiver and cornerback during his eighth and ninth grades, but he returned to the safety spot once he reached high school.
Lunney even thought Darby would end up as a receiver because, despite his size, he displayed a good set of hands and was willing to dive after passes. His love, though, was on defense and playing safety.
"I enjoyed receiver, but I felt stressed out because I had a specific job," Darby said. "On defense, I feel like I can play my style, and I can be a better athlete.
"I love offense, but I feel more free as a safety. It's also my dad's position, and he likes to help me out. It's just a fun position to play. You can float around and make some plays out of it."
Darby said he spent most of the offseason trying to learn everything he could about the position, and he even put a few pounds onto his frame. He said the team camps and the work Bentonville did during the summer helped out a great deal, particularly when picking up on the speed of the game.
It remains a learning process, and some of those lessons have been hard to learn. One lesson in particular was when a Tulsa (Okla.) Union receiver made him bite on a double move, resulting in a long touchdown pass during the Union Gridiron Classic.
"He was aggressive to a fault early on, coming up and trying to get involved in the running game," Lunney said. "In the first game, he got out of position by aggressiveness, but you can't fault that.
"I would rather have that than have a player that is not aggressive. You just can't play this game on defense if you're not aggressive, especially if you're not that big. He's become so much better at reading and not watching the game and keying on his keys. He makes plays and is always around the football."
Sports on 09/25/2014