Kansas Pregame 8-Man Top 8: Korben Clawson

Kansas Pregame polled 8-Man coaches earlier this month who voted for the top four seniors they coached against this season. Kansas Pregame staffers then used those votes to develop a Top 8 list of seniors for each division. Kansas Pregame will provide features for each of the 16 Top 8 selections. Check out the second of those profiles below:

Korben Clawson, RB/LB, 6-0, 185, Meade, 8-Man Divison I

Meade football is a recognizable brand in Kansas gridiron circles, with four state titles at the 11-Man level - the first in 1972 and the most recent in 2012 - before dropping to 8-Man in 2020, where they went 4-3.
 
The Buffs wasted little time in taking advantage of the newly leveled playing field, stampeding their way to a 12-0 8-Man Division I State Championship in their second year in the classification. Only in their 22-14 state title victory over Little River did a team come within a one possession finish of the champs at the final bell.
 
Meade’s championship was achieved out of a team effort, but leading the way was senior running back and linebacker Korben Clawson.
 
“Bringing home the first 8-Man title was definitely a day that I will never forget,” Clawson said. “It was a team effort all year. The senior class was 0-7 our seventh grade football year, so going undefeated our senior year shows how much work we have put in since junior high.”
 
Former assistant Bryan Luetters took Meade all the way to an undefeated state title in his first year as head coach and counted on more from Clawson than just what he was capable of athletically this season.
 
“His biggest strengths are his leadership and toughness,” Luetters said. “He never gives up and tends to get better as the game goes on. He had several games with over 30 carries this year. He is a stud in the weight room who never misses a workout. He pushes other kids and leads by example. He had over 100 tackles this year and was assigned to cover some big athletic kids. He ran sideline to sideline making plays all year. He is also very smart, the QB on the defense. Numerous games with double digit tackles, and most of our games were over at half.”
 
Clawson was a workhorse offensively, carrying the ball 284 times for 1,931 yard and 32 touchdowns with a 6.8 yards-per-carry average. 
 
Clawson’s abilities were further complemented by backfield mate, senior quarterback Torren Haynes, who accounted for 2,913 total yards and 41 touchdowns offensively, and was just outside the voting for the Top 8. The duo caused headaches for defensive coordinators throughout the season and in the playoffs.
 
The Buffaloes’ offense was physical and dangerous all year long, but defense is where Meade hung their hat in 2021.
 
“We put an extra emphasis on defense this year,” coach Luetters said. “We installed a 3-3 stack and played man. We worked on live tackling in practice all year. We called our defense ‘Purple Rain’ and the eight starters got a T-shirt to wear under their pads. It was a competition each week to see who could step up and be the playmaker. Our defensive coordinator Chad Rudzik did really good calling in plays. Korben loves to hit people on both sides of the ball. He is also an outstanding student, and off the field he is also a leader.”
 
Clawson was a terror defensively, accounting for 110 tackles, two sacks, one interception, and four pass defelections. The Buffaloes’ defense - named for music icon Prince’s breakthrough album and feature length film of the mid-1980s - ran like a finely tuned purple Corvette all year long, allowing just 12.15 points per game, good for any classification, but especially strong for the high-scoring 8-Man ranks.
 
“‘Purple Rain’ came from the saying ‘Offense wins games, defense wins championships,’” Clawson said. “We focused a lot of our time on our defense this year and it paid off in the end. We would always yell ‘Purple Rain’ after we let a big play go by us. It was a way to tell each other that we weren’t going to let our opponent score and that it was time to bow up.”
 
Clawson pointed out the players had listened to the classic Prince song of the same name, but understandably didn’t think the one-of-a-kind rock/R&B ballad worked well as a pump-up song. Despite that, it remained a symbol for the Buffalo D throughout the season.
 
With his football career ending on a high note with Meade’s state championship victory, Clawson intends to hang his helmet up for good. He plans to attend Kansas State University in the fall and will dual-major in Agriculture Economics and Animal Science.

*Editor's Note: Kansas Pregame has opted to include only seniors in our Top 8 list in an effort to reward them for their success in high school. This year, especially in Division II, there were a number of top players who were juniors. Axtell's Isaac Detweiler, Wheatland-Grinnell's Jett Vincent and Thunder Ridge's Dylan Bice are just a few of those likely among the Top 8 players in the classification. Fortunately, multiple other outlets have recognized those athletes for their contributions this season and Kansas Pregame will consider each of them for feature coverage in our 2022 Football Preview along with the many other top returning players from across the state.