Winona’s Dorian Curry is finding himself in a whole new role for for the Tigers this season.
Curry enters his senior season as one of the leaders of the Winona defense. He will also have to take snaps on the offensive side of the football this year for the Tigers.
He is also the latest addition to The Winona Times/The Conservative Eleven Players to Watch for 2019. Already named to the list are An’Darius Coffey, Blake Cooper, and Anthony Richardson of Winona; Cory Clay and Deriaun Townsend of J.Z. George; Thomas Costilow and Hayden Self of Winona Christian; and Morgan Mims of Carroll Academy.
Winona Coach Joey Tompkins knows he’s going to need Curry to step up and take a bigger role this season.
“He is our fullback and middle linebacker,” Tompkins said. “He didn’t lead us in tackles last year but he was our second leading tackler from last year. He has grown up a lot since last year, attitude wise. He didn’t have a bad attitude but he is now understanding that he is a senior and needs to lead by example. He has done a really good job of that in spring workouts, spring football and this summer. He is a guy that we are going to look to a lot, especially on defense.”
Curry, who is a solid 5-foot-8 and 220 pounds, started at inside linebacker beside Copiah-Lincoln signee Jalen Campbell last season. While Campbell led the team with 114 tackles, Curry was second on the team with 60 tackles.
“He is going to be more important to us on defense than anything,” Tompkins said. “He has got to be able to go get us lined up. He has to be able to go make tackles. We expect a lot out of him. Jalen had more than 100 tackles and the next closet was 60 so he’s going to have to step up and fill those shoes. There is a lot of production to replace there.”
While Curry has been primarily a defensive player, Tompkins said he will have to use the senior on offense as well. Tompkins said he is looking for someone to be the team’s H-back that is primarily used as an extra guard that kicks out defensive ends on power plays.
“Offensively, he hasn’t played offense since the seventh or eighth grade but we have to find an H-back that will kick on power and we think that he will do it,” Tompkins said. “We have about two or three other ones that we are going to rotate in there because we aren’t in that package all of the time. A lot of times we aren’t in that personnel but we have to have somebody that can kick out that end. He is going to be that guy some.”
Tompkins said Curry needs to work on his quickness and said he has also seen Curry get better every year since he’s been at Winona. Curry had 30 tackles as a sophomore and 64 tackles as a junior.
“He’s not as fast as Jalen,” Tompkins said. “But he understands the game and has gotten better every year since we have been here. He has gotten better every year at reading guards and those things that we do. I expect him to get that much better this year.”
Tompkins said he has no doubt that Curry will be a productive citizen in life.
“He is a very hard worker,” Tompkins said. “I think he is working like two or three jobs right now. He’s a kid that when he gets out of school, he is going to be productive. He is always going to have a job. He’s that type of kid. He’s not a lazy guy. He’s not going to sit up and not do anything. He’s just a country kid. He has always had a vehicle that he brings and always has a job and is always going to be doing something. He is just a good kid. He’s rough and tough.”
Tompkins said Curry is also a hard worker in the weight room where he benches 330 pounds, squats 490, and power cleans 280. Outside of the weight room, Curry stays busy. He currently works three jobs, one for the City of Winona, another at McDonalds, and a third roofing houses on the weekends.
Curry said he hopes to be a better leader for the Tigers this year after the team lost in the third round of the playoffs last season.
“We didn’t finish how we wanted to,” Curry said. "We came up a little short. We had to play a lot on the road last year. We kind of played with a chip on our shoulder. I’m just trying to be more of a leader, especially on the defensive side since we lost several players over there. We have to come together like we have been. The older players have to lead the younger players and show them what they need to do.”
