Keith Barefield Jr. took over as Lake Gibson High School's head football coach less than three weeks ago, mere weeks after he had joined the staff as the team's new offensive coordinator.

As a fresh new coach, and an offensive-minded guy at that, Barefield wasn't completely aware of what type of player he had in defensive back Jyvonte McClendon, but it didn't take him long to figure it out.

"I realized I hadn't actually seen Jyvonte play yet on film, so I went back and looked at it, and we have a lot of great athletes, and Jyvonte playing safety, when I was watching him, I thought to myself, 'Thank God he's on our team,'" Barefield told Gamecock Central Tuesday. "He would scare me as an offensive coordinator trying to figure out how to avoid that guy."