RHS grad helps Millsaps win conference title

By Staff
Mike Self, FCT Sports Editor
College football players probably feel like they spend a disproportionate amount of their time sitting in meeting rooms, but Canaan Farris was more than happy to attend the meeting he went to on Thursday afternoon.
"We're getting sized for our rings today," said Farris, a former football standout at Russellville High School who is now a junior linebacker at Division III Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi.
Farris and his teammates will soon be sporting new jewelry courtesy of a dramatic turnaround that saw them go from 2-8 last year to Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference champions this season.
Farris, who helped Russellville reach the Class 5A state championship game in 2002 and 2003, said that Millsaps' reversal of fortune can largely be attributed to the promotion of former Alabama coach Mike Dubose from defensive coordinator to head coach prior to the 2006 season.
"The man knows what he's doing, that's for sure," said Farris, who finished tied for fifth in the SCAC with 56 total tackles. "That's not to say anything bad about our old coach, but with Coach Dubose it's all business. He really changed our mentality and our approach to the game, as far as how we prepare."
With Dubose at the helm, Farris and his teammates expected a big improvement over 2005's disappointing record. Still, he admitted that winning the conference championship seemed a little far-fetched to even the most ardent of believers, especially after the team started the 2006 season 0-3.
"We said that our goal was to win the conference, but I don't know that we really believed we could do it," he said. "When we beat Lincoln 52-10 [in Week 4], things started to turn around a little bit. Then when we won our first conference game [38-12 over Centre College in Week 5], we went from just saying we wanted to win a championship to actually deciding that's what we were going to do."
Buoyed by their newfound swagger, Millsaps followed up the victory over Centre with five more wins in a row to close out the regular season. A 34-12 rout of No. 14 Trinity on November 11 finished off a perfect 6-0 season in conference play and clinched the SCAC title.
"To be 2-8 last year and then win the conference this year, that just makes it even more rewarding," Farris said. "It's amazing to see the strides we made as a team."
Millsaps lost to Carnegie Mellon (PA) in the first round of the Division III playoffs, but Farris said all 11 starters on defense will be back in 2007.
"We hope we can defend our conference title and then maybe go a little further in the playoffs this time," he said.
Farris, who plays some at both inside and outside linebacker for Millsaps, said the biggest difference between the high school level and the college level is the ever-shrinking margin for error.
"It's very thin, let's put it that way," he said. "In college football, if you take the wrong angle on a guy, you're not going to be able to cut him off. If you're just a half-step up too far, they'll drop [a pass] in right over your head. You really have to be well-prepared."
Farris said he was able to attend his alma mater's Class 5A quarterfinal game against J.O. Johnson, which the Golden Tigers lost 19-14.
"It broke my heart, because I remember what it feels like to come up short," he said.
Now, he also knows what it feels like to be a conference champion.
"Playing in the state championship game in high school is great, but this is something completely different," Farris said. "It's on a whole different level."