A live-season CoachT discussion captures the attention around Herndon’s 2,000-yard standard before the 2004 run reached November.
Read the exact CoachT post →2,249Season rushing yards
271Single-game high
11Known 100-yard games
4,815Career rushing yards
Mr.Football · Class 3A
The award season
Herndon entered 2004 already carrying the weight of a 2,000-yard junior season and a 2003 Mr. Football finalist appearance. The senior season added the award itself, a second straight Region 5-3A Player of the Year honor, and the first state-title game in school history.
TSSAA’s award biography described him as a four-year starter at running back and free safety. The profile credited him, at that award-stage snapshot, with 111 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns, 138 punt-return yards and two touchdowns, 113 kickoff-return yards, plus 48 tackles and four interceptions on defense.
The 100-yard rushing records
Greenbrier’s 100-yard rushing records list eleven games for Herndon in 2004, including a season-high 271 yards against Montgomery Central.
184 ydsFort Campbell
Aug. 20
Aug. 20
133 ydsDavid Lipscomb
Aug. 27
Aug. 27
208 ydsBeech
Sept. 10
Sept. 10
151 ydsWhite House
Sept. 24
Sept. 24
271 ydsMontgomery Central
Oct. 1
Oct. 1
115 ydsSycamore
Oct. 8
Oct. 8
191 ydsMarshall County
Oct. 22
Oct. 22
136 ydsGiles County
Oct. 29
Oct. 29
248 ydsMcNairy Central
Nov. 5
Nov. 5
178 ydsMarshall County
Nov. 12
Nov. 12
113 ydsJackson South Side
Nov. 19
Nov. 19
271 on homecoming
Against Montgomery Central, Herndon ran for 271 yards and scored five rushing touchdowns in the 42–6 homecoming win. It is the highest 2004 total listed in Greenbrier’s 100-yard rushing records.
The player and the line
The season-end story does something important: it places Herndon in a photograph with the line that powered the run. Austin Stratton, Dustin Cole, Dale Krisle, Wade Pearson and Joey Stephens were recognized together as the Robertson County Times’ offensive MVPs.
Herndon’s 2,249 yards headline the season, with the offensive line beside him in the year-end photograph.
1994 → 2004
TSSAA’s championship history lists exactly two Greenbrier football Mr. Football winners: Derrick Lucas in 1994 and Roger Herndon in 2004, both as Class 3A backs. The awards came exactly ten years apart.
Sources
The 2004 story draws from the following season records.
2004 records: 2004 BlueCross Bowl program; Robertson County Times scrapbook; Greenbrier 100-yard rushing records. More: TSSAA Greenbrier championship history, TSSAA Mr. Football awards, and contemporary CoachT season pages.
From the BoardsCoachT · Sept. 9, 2004