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Kenney does it all for Busters

Published 9/28/2007 in Sports : GCCC By Tony Adame

With every game that Cameron Kenney plays in, the legend grows a little.

There was the 47-yard touchdown grab against Trinity Valley (Texas) Community College in the opener, followed by a dazzling 67-yard run on a botched punt attempt to seal a 28-19 win for Garden City Community College.

There was the 82-yard punt against Dodge City Community College that Hutchinson Community College head coach Rion Rhoades called, "the greatest kick I've ever seen, on any level."

Then there was last week, at Hutchinson, when Kenney caught nine passes for 133 yards.

Twice in that game, he appeared to hit paydirt and was foiled by a referee's call, the first on a fade route in the back of the end zone, and the second time on a dive for the left pylon in which Kenney reached out and actually knocked the pylon over.

He also kicked a field goal and connected on all four of his extra-point attempts against Hutch.

Get the picture yet?

The kid can do it all.

"Honestly, I had no idea (Kenney) was going to be this good," said Garden City head coach Lucas Aslin. "My hope going into the season was that he would kick well and be good enough to be our third or fourth wide receiver. Turns out he's a whole lot more than we thought he'd be."

Kenney, a 6-foot-2, 190-pound wide receiver/punter/kicker out of Dacula, Ga., leads Garden City (2-1 league, 3-1 overall) in all-purpose yards, receiving yards, and is the top punter in the entire Jayhawk Conference with an average of 46.6 yards per punt.

It's a scary prospect for Saturday's opponent, Highland Community College (0-3, 0-5).

"Kenney is a big-time weapon," said Highland coach Mike Beagle. "I don't think in over 20 years of coaching football I've seen a punter like him, a guy who is almost impossible to scheme for. He is the piece of the puzzle that wins the field-position battle for your team before they even step on the field.

"If you try to block it, he'll run. If you try to stop him running, he'll put you in a hole with his leg."

Kenney found his way to Garden City after a multi-city recruiting swing through Kansas last spring in which he looked at the Broncbusters, Dodge City, and Butler.

Kenney admits he didn't get a lot of attention coming out of high school because he didn't have a breakout season until his senior year, the result of his own lack of focus on sports and academics.

His saving grace, Kenney said, was his mother, Patti Roth.

Roth raised Kenney as a single parent in Dacula.

"I know what I put her through was tough at some points," Kenney said. "I pushed her to her limit sometimes with little issues at school and on the streets, but she was always there for me. It couldn't have been easy for her trying to be a mother and a father figure all at once, but she did it.

"To me, she's perfect. She's my everything."

Roth has seen Kenney play three times this season, and will be back in Garden City when the Broncbusters take on Independence for homecoming Oct. 6.

"Football makes Cameron happy, and if that's his future that's great," Roth said. "But, he needs to get a degree because he won't play football forever. Cameron has a lot of people pulling for him back in Georgia, his friends, his teachers, his coaches, and of course, me.

"I'm sure coming to Garden City was a drastic change for Cameron, but he's made some friends, and Coach (Chris) Jirgens and Coach Aslin are keeping him in check."

When Kenney finally did get it all together in high school, he was good enough to be named a first-team all-state specialist and first-team all-county wide receiver.

His efforts earned him a spot in Georgia's prestigous North-South All-Star Game, in which he caught four passes for 74 yards going against a group of cornerbacks headed for Division I schools, inlcugin the University of Georgia.

"That gave me a lot of confidence," Kenney said. "I knew I could compete at that level, which felt pretty good."

Kenney's confidence is one of the things that Aslin loves about his freshman standout.

"Cameron is very confident in his ability, and he backs it up," Aslin said. "The other guys respect him, because they know what he can do. Also, when he makes a mistake he's not somebody who is going to sulk.

"Instead, he responds each and every time we challenge him."

Kickoff against Highland is 7 p.m. tonight at Memorial Stadium.

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