This Poplarville junior showed his power with one lift. Is he the Hornets’ next star RB?

Poplarville junior running back Chase Shears didn’t get much of a chance to show what he was capable of last year, but that’s about to change.

Shears couldn’t catch a break in 2017: Austin Bolton had another huge season at running back as a senior for Poplarville and Shears happened to be out with an injury when Bolton missed some time with his own injury.

In seven games last year, Shears had 21 carries for 259 yards and a touchdown.

Bolton is now a member of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College football team, and Shears is fully healthy, meaning opponents will get a full introduction to the junior this season.

Shears is an impressive combination of power and speed and he showed off that strength during workouts in Poplarville this week. He power cleaned 325 pounds Monday with his teammates on hand to provide some vocal support.

To give you an idea of how impressive of a lift that is: Former East Central star running back Tony Brown made the rounds on social media last year with a power clean of 315 pounds.

Shears is listed at 5-foot-10, 195 pounds.

“He’s physically talented — big, fast and strong,” Poplarville coach Jay Beech said. “I haven’t seen many kids faster than him and stronger than him. He’s real explosive. He just hasn’t had much of a chance to play up to this point.”

Beech said that Shears has a 40-yard dash time of 4.5 seconds.

“We’ve had him since he was a baby in the seventh grade,” Beech said. “We didn’t know he’d be as physically talented as he is now. In the middle of his sophomore year, you could kinda tell he was making gains in the weight room. He’s really blossomed.”

This story was originally published July 25, 2018 at 10:09 AM.