CALEDONIA — Fear of getting hurt might not be the first thing that crosses your mind when you see the 5-foot-10, 185-pound Darquez Williams, but apparently it was once an issue, at least in second grade when he first started playing football.

“I didn’t really know much about football, and I was scared to hurt people because I was usually the biggest one out there,” said the Caledonia High School senior, the memory especially ironic considering he was standing next to the 6-foot-5, 245-pound Tyshawn Graham as he was recalling it. “I started to get more aggressive, and I started to love it.”

Equally astonishing in retrospect is the fact Graham, a bulldozer of a young man, started football at about the same time as a running back.

“I played a little running back but got bigger, then I was on defense, then playing offensive tackle,” Graham said Wednesday at a National Signing Day event at Caledonia High School’s fieldhouse.

Williams signed with Itawamba Community College, while Graham and teammate Darrius Triplett will continue their academic and athletic careers at East Mississippi Community College.

“This is probably the most we’ve had,” said Cavaliers coach Michael Kelly, whose fourth year at the school resulted in a record-breaking 11-3 season. “The three years previously to this we’ve had one or two kids sign to go to the next level. But this is also the largest senior class we’ve had.”

With a large senior class playing its fourth season under Kelly, the Cavaliers expected 2021 to be a breakout year. . 

“We had a lot of preparation over the summer,” Graham said. “We were all together over four years, so we had a lot of great chemistry going on. It was bound to come.”

But when it did, it still seemed as if Caledonia had come out of nowhere. After winning 11 games in three years, they won 11 games in one, three of them during the postseason. 

“The senior class did a good job of understanding where we needed to be, and the coaches have done a good job of preparing us,” Williams said.

“They were our first class as ninth-graders,” Kelly said. “They’ve grown together. They’ve done everything together. They play football together, they’re all in the same classes, they go eat at the same places, they hang out with each other. Hopefully the legacy they left here in our program lives on for a long time.”

College coaches noticed the improved Cavaliers and some of the players behind the success. And the Itawamba coaches certainly noticed Williams.

“The coaches from ICC, they have really stayed in touch with me,” Williams said after a National Signing Day event in the Caledonia fieldhouse. “They made sure I was good, made sure I was OK and always just kept with me, asking how my day was and stuff like that.

“They ended up becoming my first choice.”

His past playing time at different positions has come in handy, both for himself and his team.

“I played all the O-line and D-line positions, then when I got to middle school they transferred me to middle linebacker, then when I got to high school they transferred me to outside linebacker and safety,” said Williams, listed as a safety on the 2021 Cavaliers roster. 

“He was able to play so many positions for us, defensively and offensively though mainly on defense the last couple of years, safety, outside backer,” Kelly said. “He’s been able to learn all those. I think his versatility is going to pay him great dividends at the next level.”

Working in Graham’s favor is an athleticism that belies his size.

“He’s a great athlete to be a big man,” Kelly said. “I fully expect him to play left or right tackle for coach (Buddy) Stephens right off the bat.”

He might well do that, although Graham knows how much talent is usually on the roster in Scooba.

“I think EMCC has a great program,” he said. “They have a good winning history, and I believe I can build my career there.”

Triplett also has a very positive view of Lions football.

“I really liked the atmosphere,” said Triplett, who cites his agility, elusiveness and speed as his main assets. “The coaches are always in contact with me and have been very interested in me.”

“He’s explosive,” Kelly said of Triplett, whom he consistently called one of the state’s top tailbacks. “He fits the mold with the athleticism to be able to take it to the house from anywhere.”

Graham and Triplett will be joined on the EMCC roster by a former teammate, Brandon Chrest of the Class of 2021. Chrest recently accepted a football scholarship, something he had been working toward for the past year, part of which he spent on the Cavalier sideline as a volunteer assistant coach. He is already a student at the college.

“I’m just extremely proud of all four of them,” Kelly said. “We hope in the next couple of weeks we get two or three more off of this year’s team to be able to sign college scholarships.”