2006 Class: Bringing the Payne

When talking about some of the top backs in the state of Virginia, the first name that may come to mind is Westfield High School’s all-state back Evan Royster . Robinson’s Lucas Caparelli , who earned second-team Washington Post all-metro honors, may be another. And while Royster and Caparelli are excellent talents, Oakton’s Keith Payne is also hoping to lay claim to top running back honors in the 2006 class. The versatile 6-3, 215-pound Payne is the catalyst for an Oakton team that went 10-2 in 2004.

“It’s so hard to explain to people in terms of stats,” Oakton head coach Joe Thompson said, talking about Payne’s accomplishments for his team. “We try to play as many people as we can and there were lots of times when Keith was out by halftime. But he’s the reason we went as far as we did in terms of our offensive production. You knew if you’d give him 15 rushes a game he was going to go for 100 yards and he was going to score a couple touchdowns for you.”

Ever since arriving at Oakton as a sophomore, Payne has been a starter for the football team. An excellent athlete, he also plays basketball and lacrosse. He has helped the lacrosse team capture back-to-back state championships and is receiving some interest in that sport as well. Coach Thompson wanted to infuse Payne’s athleticism into his offense as soon as Payne arrived on campus.

“He was at Flint Hill his freshman year of high school and they don’t have a football team,” Thompson said. “He played basketball and lacrosse for Flint Hill and then came to Oakton for his sophomore year. He had played little league football and came out and was just too good an athlete to keep off the field. We had been very much an Academy option oriented team and we started to add some I-back and one-back stuff to get him the ball in a little bit different format than we usually do. We had been real quarterback and fullback heavy in our running game before he came.”

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