ELLIOTT GAINS UNLIKELY 200 CLUB MEMBERSHIP

Cody Elliott became possibly the most unlikely member of the Bearcat 200 Club on October 28 when he ran 17 times for 227 yards in a 64-27 win over Lavaca.

There were actually two 200-yard rushers in Lavaca so there have now been 50 such games in school history, which covers 1,135 games to date.

There was little reason to expect Elliott, a senior, would be able to etch his name onto the club roster.

The senior came into the season with 201 career yards and was behind a fullback who had topped the 1,000-yard mark last season in Rylen Ray.

Most of those 201 yards came on an 81-yard run against Salem, which stood as the longest playoff run by a Bearcat for all of two weeks until Randon Ray rumbled 97 yards against Glen Rose.

“The linemen blocked who they needed to and created a gap for me and ran from there,” Elliott simply explains how he became the newest 200-yard rusher.

What that doesn't say is Elliott used his 4.7 speed from there – one carry went for 73 yards for one of his two touchdowns on the night.

Elliott freely admits he expected few carries this season.

“I was expecting to play more defense than anything,” Elliott said.

After all the linebacker was the second leading tackler in 2021 a, had made 34 tackles as a sophomore and had led the junior high as a freshman.

Besides, as was the case in the Salem playoff game, Elliott could be dangerous, adding points in an already lopsided game.

His coaches on both sides of the ball love him.

"I wish we had a team full of Cody Elliotts," said head coach Doc Crowley. "He represents what our program is all about. He's 6' 7", 160 (pounds) and plays like a dude."

Elliott became the first choice at fullback when Rylen Ray was hurt four minutes into the second quarter of the season opener at Dollarway, but even then it wasn’t immediate as he did not log a carry in that game.

Since then he’s had 109 carries and is closing in on joining the 1000-yard club, which, again, seemed more than improbable during the summer.

Going into the playoffs Elliott needs 122 yards, a lot of which was likely expected to come in the season finale, were it not forfeited.

“Last week I was planning on breaking 1,000,” Elliott said.

Elliott’s eight game average is 109.8 yards. He had his first 100-yard game against Hackett on a night there were two 200-yard rushers in Dax Goff and Trace Hall.

Elliott went for 105 in a shutout against Mansfield then ran for 112 against Charleston before breaking through with a career night in Lavaca.

That amount of offensive work has made it exhausting sometimes.

“It’s definitely tiring. I’ve got to run a lot more. I’ve never went both ways like this, playing this much,” said Elliott.

Elliott said he doesn’t necessarily have a favorite play but grins when he adds, “but we have a lot of success off option plays.”

Defensively Elliott has 44 tackles with five going for a loss.

Besides football, Elliott also plays baseball and is a member of the trap shooting team.

'After high school he is considering becoming a firefighter in Fort Smith – there are multiple former Bearcat football players on the FSFD staff, including Jordan Reid, who visited Elliott's JAG class Wednesday – or go to college for fire science.