MACON — Timorrius Conner enjoys proving people wrong.
The Noxubee County High School quarterback also is adept at erasing bad memories. A little more than two months ago, Noxubee County was coming off a 29-28 loss in overtime to Kemper County. The fourth-straight loss dropped the Tigers to 2-4 and left many doubting they would be able to regroup in a competitive Region 4 and make another run at a Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 4A State title.
But Conner showed Saturday what happens when you don’t give him the credit he deserves. The 5-foot-10, 165-pound senior was 18 of 26 for 365 yards with four touchdowns to lead Noxubee County to a 44-23 victory against St. Stanislaus in the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 4A State title game at Ole Miss’ Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
“It feels pretty good,” Conner said. “A lot of people doubted us at the beginning of the season when we had that four-game losing streak. Right now, since we won a state championship, everybody forgot about that four-game losing streak.”
For his accomplishments, Conner is The Dispatch’s Prep Player of the Week.
Conner’s performance helped Noxubee County (12-4) close the season on a 10-game winning streak. It also secured the program its first-back-to-back state championships in school history.
Conner, whose nickname is “Tank,” followed a path to history that looked a lot like the one he traveled in 2014. A year ago, St. Stanislaus quarterback Myles Brennan attracted a lot of the attention with his gaudy statistics. But Conner was the better quarterback in the state title game, going 19 of 33 for 340 yards and four touchdowns (one interception) in a 48-27 victory at Mississippi State’s Davis Wade Stadium.
This season, Conner threw a 14-yard scoring pass to Kymbotric Mason, a 48-yard touchdown pass to Deveon Ball, a 31-yard scoring pass to Mason, and a 20-yard touchdown to Ladaveon Smith. The effort capped a season that statistically was a little better than last season. Conner finished 214 of 314 for 3,086 yards and 25 touchdowns (15 interceptions). His completion percentage of 68 percent eclipsed his 57.6-percent mark in 2014. He also threw for 77 more yards even though he had 10 fewer touchdowns and six more interceptions.
“If people doubt me, I know what to do to make them start back putting my name back in their mouths,” Conner said.
In the Tigers’ season-ending winning streak, Conner had 16 touchdowns and five interceptions.
Conner admitted he didn’t have as “perfect” of a game that he wanted to in his final high school game, but he said he used the lack of attention on the Tigers’ offensive as motivation.
“I had to give the people something to talk about instead of Myles Brennan,” Conner said.
Noxubee County coach Tyrone Shorter never doubted Conner even though many in the community wondered what was going wrong with the team when it was mired in a four-game losing streak. In fact, Conner was one of the senior leaders Shorter turned to after a 29-28 loss to Kemper County in the team’s final non-region game. Shorter encouraged Conner and several of the team’s senior leaders to talk to the rest of the team to get it together and to put the frustration behind it. Noxubee County responded with a 22-12 victory against Kosciusko that set it on its way to another run at a state title.
Conner said he and his classmates didn’t have to have a long talk with their teammates because he said everyone knew the problem. He said the players had to stop getting under each others’ skin and pointing at other people instead of taking ownership of their mistakes.
Conner said he re-examined his performance in the first six games and told himself he could be a better player and that he needed to calm down and let the game come to him. He found that peaceful place Saturday morning and knew he and his teammates were going to play well, which is why he sent Shorter a text message that said he wasn’t going to let Brennan outplay him. Shorter was delighted to receive the message because it proved to him that his senior quarterback was focused.
“He has been dealing with (not getting a lot of attention or respect) all of his career,” Shorter said. “He is a three-year starter, and he still hasn’t gotten the credit he has earned and that he deserves. I believe if he was 6-foot or 6-1 probably everybody in the country would be after him. He can play. He is a smart guy, he has a live arm, and he can run and is very athletic.”
Shorter said he has seen the lack of respect motivate Conner. He believes that feeling will motivate Conner in college, too. So far, Conner has received interest from Mississippi Valley State, East Mississippi Community College, Mississippi Delta C.C., Hinds C.C., Jones County Junior College, and others. He said several schools have told him he will get a chance to play quarterback at the next level, while others have told him they see him more as an athlete/slot receiver type. He said he is leaning toward going to a school that will give him an opportunity to play quarterback.
“Somebody is going to give him a shot to play quarterback,” Shorter said. “I think these colleges are making a mistake if they don’t. I tell him all of the time, look at Russell Wilson. He is not 6-foot tall and he is playing in the NFL. Look at (former Boston College standout and NFL/CFL quarterback) Doug Flutie. He might be the same height that you are. You don’t have to be a tall guy to play quarterback. You have to be smart and be able to look through your linemen sometimes. You might have to play differently, but somebody is going to give you an opportunity. Whoever that is, you just have to go out and prove to everybody you don’t have to be 6-1, 6-3, 6-4 to play quarterback because it has been proven over the years that you don’t have to be tall to play quarterback at the next level.”
Conner said he is going to take time to visit schools and to make his decision. He said he would like to go to a school where he can play quarterback. He doesn’t feel his height or his size will prevent him from making an impact at the next level. After all, all he has to do is point to the last two seasons. Noxubee County, which beat Class 6A State champion Starkville in the season opener, has two gold championship trophies and a 26-6 record in the past two seasons.
“I am so proud of him.” Shorter said. “He led us for three years, and he is the first in school history to win back-to-back championships as a quarterback. I am going to miss him. I am going to miss all of the seniors because they mean so much to the program.
“For this senior class to be a part of three championships, you had a blessed high school career to be a part of three state championships. It is awesome.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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