The Unstoppable Force: What Makes Knox’s Myles McLaughlin a Nightmare for Every Opponent?

Myles McLaughlin is not just any high school quarterback; he’s a force of nature carrying the Knox High team on his back with an average of 35.5 rushing attempts per game. But here’s the kicker—those runs aren’t mere stats on a sheet. Heading into a crucial Class 3A semistate showdown at Fort Wayne Bishop Luers, the 5-foot-10, 190-pound dynamo has blitzed past every rushing record in high school history, amassing an eye-popping 4,768 yards this season alone. Coaches and fans alike brace themselves, knowing he’ll take the spotlight 40 to 50 times in a single game, and opponents struggle to find a play that can contain his vision, patience, and that relentless drive. With national records in both rushing yards and touchdowns, plus a career total that’s just shy of the legendary Derrick Henry’s all-time mark, McLaughlin’s quest for immortality on the gridiron is nothing short of mesmerizing. It’s not just raw talent or brute toughness—it’s a blend of old-school grit and modern savvy that sets him apart, and every team lucky enough (or unlucky enough) to face him feels the ripple effect on their game plans. Trust me, this isn’t your typical high school football story—it’s a saga of perseverance, strategy, and an unstoppable athlete rewriting the record books. LEARN MORE

On average, Myles McLaughlin carries the ball 35.5 times per game. That statistic, by itself, is not all that interesting, other than to show the workload the Knox High School senior quarterback shoulders for his team.

More interesting is what McLaughlin does with those attempts. Going into Friday’s Class 3A high school football semistate game at Fort Wayne Bishop Luers, the 5-10, 190-pound McLaughlin has rushed for more yardage in a season than any player in the history of high school football: 4,768.

How does he do it? Everybody in the stadium knows McLaughlin is going to carry the ball 40 or even 50 times a game. Angola coach Andy Thomas got an up-close view of McLaughlin when his Hornets played at fourth-ranked Knox in a Class 3A regional game on Friday night.

“We had a really good plan for him,” Thomas said this week. “But being a four-year player, and having a lot of experience with this offense, he’s able to make some checks and counter what we were doing. He’s really good from the neck up in that offense. He has the patience and vision for it.”

At the end of the night, Thomas said he felt like his defense performed well against McLaughlin and Knox’s run-heavy – or McLaughlin-heavy – shotgun offense. Angola held Knox to a season-low 28 points but lost the game, 28-21. McLaughlin carried 53 times, one off his season high 54 against Griffith in the sectional semifinal, for 372 yards and four touchdowns.

“We hit him a lot,” Thomas said. “We got some great shots on him. And you could tell he got a little tired. But he has that toughness to just keep going and going.”

McLaughlin now holds national records for rushing yards in a season and rushing touchdowns in a season (71). His career rushing total of 11,761 yards puts him behind only Derrick Henry’s all-time mark of 12,124 yards. With two games maximum remaining (the 3A state championship is Nov. 28 at Lucas Oil Stadium), McLaughlin needs 364 yards to become the all-time high school rushing king.

It takes talent to run for nearly 12,000 yards. Toughness, too, and a great offensive line. But talk to any coach who has tried to game plan against Knox and they will tell you it is McLaughlin’s patience that might be his defining trait. Thomas talked to his scout team quarterback about “not just catching the ball and slamming it up in there.” He wanted him to wait and read the blocking before creasing the defense.

“It’s old-school New York Giants, Bill Parcells running power football, where you kick out, pull the guard through, and your back leads up,” Griffith coach Phil Mason said. “What sets Myles apart in this whole thing is his ability to be as patient as any kid I’ve ever seen. He waits for it to develop, finds that gap, and when he hits that gap, he hits so hard that there were times during our game when we were cheering because we thought he was down. All of a sudden, you hear the Knox crowd erupt, and we’re like, ‘We didn’t get him down; he popped out of this thing.’”

McLaughlin ran for 410 yards and six touchdowns in Knox’s 50-35 win over Griffith. Mason said his defense tried to take away the running lanes by putting more players at the line of scrimmage. But if you don’t catch him there … look out.

“What’s ironic is teams are so aggressive in how they try to stop him,” Mason said. “You get as many guys up in the line of scrimmage, yet he’s breaking these long runs. He’s got good speed, but you have to be so aggressive at the line that you can’t leave a guy back there to account for him. It’s extremely frustrating.”

Pioneer coach Adam Berry has seen McLaughlin for four consecutive years. In Week 2, McLaughlin ran for 428 yards and five TDs on 30 carries in Knox’s 38-20 win over Pioneer, the Class A Panthers’ only loss of the season. (Pioneer plays at South Adams in a Class A semistate on Friday night.)

Berry, who called McLaughlin a “very humble kid,” said there is not a lot of surprise about Knox’s plan of attack. Stopping it is another thing.

“The first play of the game this year, our coaches were calling out exactly where the play was going and the players were pointing there,” Berry said. “They ran exactly where we thought they were going to run. But trying to bring down Myles is easier said than done. His legs just keep driving and driving.”

Pioneer runs a wing-T offense that spreads the ball around to several different ballcarriers. The Panthers have three 1,000-yard rushers already and another with more than 800 yards. Just a few years ago, Pioneer had Jack Kiser, who would go on to win Mr. Football and play linebacker at Notre Dame, as the quarterback of that offense.

“It’s hard to for me to make a comparison (from Kiser to McLaughlin) because I coached Jack, but the one thing that is similar is that they are both extremely hard runners who don’t want to go down,” Berry said. “And they both play on offense and defense. They are both workhorses.”

Knox coach Russ Radtke, in his sixth year at Knox and 49^th overall as a high school coach, is second on the all-time coaching wins’ list in Indiana with 426. (Bud Wright, who retired last year at Sheridan, is at the top of the list with 464 wins.) Radtke has changed his offense from a wishbone attack to a shotgun running game in recent years.

“It’s not just one blocking scheme, but for the most part, they’re doing the same thing,” said Mishawaka Marian coach Mike Davidson, whose team lost 48-18 to Knox in the sectional championship behind 383 rushing yards and six TDs from McLaughlin. “They’re just making you adjust in some manner because they’re unbalanced or because of an extra alignment – maybe it’s double wings – and now you’ve got to create a defensive plan to accommodate all that when all they’re doing is lining up and doing their block schemes.”

McLaughlin’s presence can make teams alter their plans. In the regional game, Angola took the lead with 2 minutes left in the first half. Normally in that situation, Angola would go to a nickel or dime defense to prevent a long touchdown pass. But with McLaughlin in the game, that was not an option.

“We told the kids, ‘This is the game right here,’” Thomas said. “Usually, you would back off and try to keep everything on front of you. But you have to play run defense all over the field against them. Then (McLaughlin) got a long run, they scored and got a 2-point conversion. We were thinking we could grab that lead going into halftime. That was a crucial part of the game.”

All four opposing coaches spoke highly of McLaughlin’s character.

“The biggest question mark coming out is what level he will play at in college? I’ve been coaching for 35 years, and I can tell you it doesn’t matter — he’s going to be a great player wherever he plays,” Mason said. “College coaches will determine the level at which he plays, and Myles will determine what he does when he gets there. Whatever coach gives him that opportunity, Myles will make the best of it, and that speaks to the quality of character within him. People need to quit asking where’s he gonna play or who is he gonna play for. Whoever gets him made a great decision. I’ll take 20 Myles McLaughlins any day, and I don’t think there’s a high school coach in the county who won’t say that.”

Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649. Get IndyStar’s high school coverage sent directly to your inbox with the High School Sports newsletter. And be sure to subscribe to our new IndyStarTV: Preps YouTube channel.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Myles McLaughlin chasing national high school rushing record