Maturation paying off for Strong

Jeff Tolbert can laugh about Denzel Strong’s freshman- and sophomore-year antics now, but about three and a half years ago, the Van Horn football coach wanted to wring his running back’s neck.

Tolbert recently reminisced about one day during finals week of Strong’s freshman year back in May 2010. Strong decided not to show up for school that morning, and Tolbert couldn’t believe it.

Ever since he first saw Strong as an eighth grader, Tolbert realized the kid possessed enormous potential. He also struggled with constant discipline issues and admittedly didn’t take school seriously. Now, Tolbert felt like he was watching all that talent go to waste.

Tolbert called Strong and issued a stern ultimatum: Get to school in 15 minutes or be prepared to deal with an enraged coach on your doorstep.

“I said, ‘You’re coming now or I’m going to come get you and I may get fired for what I do once I get to your house,’” Tolbert said.

Fortunately, Strong showed, although Tolbert decided to walk him to each of his classes to make sure he didn’t try to bolt.

This was typical back then, which is why it’s funny today. Because after years of growing pains, Tolbert says Strong has “worked as hard as anybody I’ve ever been around.” On the football field, it’s shown as Strong has rushed for 1,309 yards and 22 touchdowns for the 5-3 Falcons.

But it’s never been easy for Strong. He comes from a frugal upbringing and works about 25 hours a week at Apple Market to help his mom, Donna Strong, pay bills.

Denzel makes it clear, though, that his life isn’t some sob story about a kid from a troubled home. No, his family might struggle to make ends meet, but his mom makes sure they’re met. Until recently, she worked more than 100 hours a week between two jobs – as an office manager at Apple Market and a desk job at Children’s Mercy Hospital.

“I’ve had a pretty good life, a regular life,” Denzel Strong said. “Just everything was harder. We had to work hard to get where I’m at right now. ... (Mom) does whatever she can. If she’s struggling, she’s still gonna do whatever she has to do for me. Say I need some money to eat and she needs to pay the bills. She’d rather feed me than pay that bill.

“That’s why I’m doing this for her. Everything academic I’m doing for her. That’s why I stayed with football, because I want to get her out of this place.”

Strong’s maturation was gradual, but Tolbert really started noticing a change during the track and field season of Strong’s sophomore season.

Strong dominated every sport when he was younger but struggled with the transition to varsity athlete. Tolbert constantly explained the steps he needed to take to find success and forced Strong to run track to improve his conditioning. This was when Tolbert first saw Strong paying attention to details.

“He started seeing his times go down because we were pushing him to work harder in practice and do things skill-wise that would help him,” said Tolbert, who's an assistant coach on the track team. “As he started seeing that, that’s when he started saying, ‘I’m listening to you guys. I want you to know that I’m listening to you.’ We’re like, ‘We noticed. You’ve got to keep getting better, but we’ve noticed.’”

Once football season rolled around, Tolbert watched Strong finally start working on the intricacies of his game. He stayed late after practices, improved his footwork, practiced how to properly secure the ball and strengthened his balance.

“He’s willing to spend the extra time to work on nuances of the game,” Tolbert said. “I’ve watched him when no one else is around work on those little things.”

This was the biggest change in Strong. In the past, he shunned responsibility. When school got tough, he shut down. On the field, he relied too much on his own ability instead of learning the game.

Now, he’s a weight- and film-room junkie, and his mom says he goes out of his way to apply himself in the classroom.
“What I’ve seen is if he has a problem, he’ll man up to what the situation is and resolve it himself,” Donna Strong said. “That’s the change that I’ve seen. When he came there as a freshman, he wouldn’t have done that.”

Last season, Strong emerged as the Falcons broke through with a 7-4 season and clinched the second playoff berth in school history. He racked up 1,174 all-purpose yards and scored 11 touchdowns as part of a three-headed rushing attack with Jayvon James and Armand Levy.

Strong’s shouldered a much larger load as a senior as he’s accounted for 59 percent of the Falcons’ total yardage while also playing linebacker. He registered a seven-touchdown effort in a 61-12 win over Afrikan Centered Education and a six-TD performance in last week’s 61-22 victory over St. Mary’s.

“It’s my senior year and I wanted to work to be the best,” Strong said. “I wanted to be unstoppable. I didn’t want anyone to stop me, so I pushed myself and I got stronger.”

Perhaps more impressive, Strong has his eyes on a college degree. He’s still working to get his grades in order and will likely play football at a junior college for two years before transferring, but Strong talks of majoring in either culinary arts or sports science and hopes to one day own a restaurant or become a sports trainer. Not long ago, this would have sounded like a pipe dream. Now it all seems attainable.

Tolbert admits he has a difficult time looking back at the last four years he’s spent with Strong without getting choked up. In a lot of ways, Van Horn football has gone as Denzel Strong has gone – from a 2-18 mark his first two years to two of the more successful seasons in school history as a junior and senior.

“I met Denzel the second semester of our first year at Van Horn,” said the fifth-year coach. “That’s hard to think about what comes next, but at the same time it almost seems like a lifetime. It seems like I’ve been working for this kid and this moment forever. And so I guess that’s why I’m so passionate about making sure we get him in the right position to be successful.”