Prep football: Antelope’s Curron Borders charges through defenses on his way to Sac State

Curron Borders’ football career started in the trenches.

He didn’t always play the position he has become known for around the area. Borders started off as an offensive lineman in his first year of football at 9 years old.

It molded the Antelope High School senior running back into the player he is today. On Thursday night at home, he rushed for three touchdowns in a Capital Valley Conference opener against Roseville.

Borders is now one of the top running backs in the state. He was an odd choice for an offensive lineman. He’s always been on the small side for a football player; he’s still just 5-foot-7. But playing on the line was transformative.

“It shaped the football player I am,” Borders said. “I’m not the type of guy to go around a tackle if I don’t need to. … It was hard. Because I knew I wasn’t one of the bigger guys, especially at my age. The biggest thing it taught me is to just have heart.”

He added, “It took me a while to get used to playing running back. Once I hit my eighth-grade year I finally started to figure it out. High school hit and I started putting in hours.”

Borders earlier this month verbally committed to Sacramento State. As a junior last season, Borders rushed for over 2,000 yards with 33 total touchdowns. In the season-opener against Whitney, Borders ran for over 200 yards with a pair of touchdowns.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” Borders said. “It’s a great opportunity. I’m really excited about it. That staff and environment up there is like nothing I’ve ever seen. It’s truly what Sacramento is and I can’t wait to be around it.”

Borders added, “It says how good of a program Sac State is. Even though it’s local and it’s Sac State people tend to think that because they’re (in the) Big Sky it’s not necessarily a good program but it’s a great program. As time goes on it’s going to keep getting better and better.”

With his decorated season, you would think college coaches would come pining for him to play at their respective school, but that wasn’t the case. The 5-foot-7, 180-pound back only received scholarships from Nevada, San Jose State and Sacramento State.

The lack of recruiting interest surprised Borders’ coach at Antelope.

“I think he was under-recruited,” Antelope coach Mike Byerly said.“Because of his height, people tend to overlook that initially. … Sac State saw an opportunity with him and took it. Curron is a local kid. So having him stay local like this is really good for the community. He loves the area and loves Sacramento. It’s a good fit.”

Byerly has been a fixture coaching in the Sac-Joaquin Section since the 1990s. He coached a handful of Division l running backs including Louis Rankin, Billy Smith, Tyronne Gross Jr. and Curtis Shaw. He says Borders stacks up with the best of the best he’s coached.

“He’s right there with them,” Byerly said. “He’s in the top 5 of those running backs.”

What stands out to the coach in his second season at Antelope about Borders is his leadership. Last season, Antelope went 9-0 in the regular season but has started 1-3 this fall. He says the poise he has shown has kept the team on track.

“He shows so much maturity,” Byerly said. “We have struggled at the beginning of the season. His leadership has come out when we needed it. It’s easy to be a leader when everything is going great. … He’s helped these youth understand how to be successful.”

This story was originally published September 16, 2022 at 7:37 AM.