The Robinson Knights featured two 1K rushers last season.  Martin Ruiz led the team with 1284 yards and 13 rushing TDs.  While QB Zain Gilmore was not far behind with 912 rush yards and 15 rushing  TDs.  The Knights racked up a lot of yards on the ground behind the senior leaders.  But, those yards have to be acquired by someone else this season and 5-6/215 lbs rising junior RB Michael Duclos is ready for the challenge.

Last year, Duclos was tied for third with older brother Carlos Duclos, for rushing yards on the team.  Having suffered a foot injury mid season, Michael was sidelined and only played in 6 games (38 carries, 221 yards, 3 rush TDs).  This year he will be the  featured back and he expresses his motivation, “Given me a different version of motivation being the feature this year. Last year, I was motivated to be as good or better than the guys ahead of me. This year, my motivation is to set an example for the younger backs behind me.”

Being a veteran is important to Duclos. “I show my leadership by hard work and push the hardest.”  He has embraced the leadership role and has been singled out as one of the leaders on the team.  12-2 last season and one game away from the state championship game, Duclos knows what it takes for the team to be successful and he knows how it feels to suffer a season ending loss.  However, the previous season has set up Robinson for high expectations, ” I think we will be pretty good. I don’t think that we are different from any other team. We lost players to graduation like other teams and are working hard like other teams. I think we will be pretty good this year.”

Currently, Duclos is not receiving a bunch or recruiting attention. That is likely to change once coaches see the film below and follow him during the season. He visited the University of Miami football camp earlier this month and performed extremely well. “I felt like I belonged there. I was really hyped and emotional. It just felt right. I performed well.”  Duclos is a combination of speed and power…Ray Rice (Baltimore) type back. Hard to bring down which you will observe in the film below. If his spring game is any indiction how the season will go, tacklers will think twice before attempting to tackling him. “Feels good bouncing off of tackles and teams can’t hold me back. Even though we ended with a loss [spring game], I think we did well.