2015 ETSN.fm East Texas Football Super Team Offensive Player Of The Year: Ke’Mon Freeman, Liberty-Eylau

There are a lot of colleges out there that don't see Ke'Mon Freeman as a quarterback. They see him as a universal football player who will ultimately have to make a choice.

Whatever Liberty-Eylau needed its well-rounded signal caller to be during the 2015 season, Freeman could adapt. On a game-to-game basis.

During the second round of the Class 4A Division I playoffs, he threw for 256 yards and four scores while running for a meager 92 yards plus a touchdown. The very next week, in a downpour against a stronger defense, he ran for 213 yards and four touchdowns with just one passing attempt to his name.

No defense could stop all of his facets and most couldn't even stop one, so Freeman is the 2015 ETSN.fm East Texas Football Super Team's Offensive Player of the Year. He succeeds 2014 winner Blake Lynch, a former Gilmer athlete and current Baylor receiver.

"He actually had almost 5,200 yards of total offense," Liberty-Eylau head coach Steve Wells said. "I looked into it because Nebraska just called about him. He had over 3,300 yards throwing the ball and 1,852 yards rushing the ball. Twenty-nine touchdowns running the ball and 27 touchdowns throwing.

"We moved him to quarterback two years ago. He took almost every snap for us for two years. We played two 14-game schedules. He took almost every snap in 28 games, which is a feat in and of itself. You can't say enough about his leadership. His work ethic has been great with our team and he's an example in the classroom."

The Leopards were the surprise squad of 2014.

They struggled out of the gate to a 1-5 record. However, they finished their season with a fourth-round playoff appearance loss to Argyle, which in turn lost the state championship game to Navasota in double overtime.

There was a strong confidence around the 2015 Liberty-Eylau team during the summer months.

Freeman, at 6-feet and 205 pounds, impressed during the college football recruiting camps. Not only could he throw the ball, he was built well enough to foreseeably manage playing receiver, defensive back or even linebacker at the next level if he didn't pan out as a quarterback.

To Arkansas State, North Texas, SMU and Stephen F. Austin, Freeman is too versatile to fail. All four offered him ahead of the final recruiting push before National Signing Day on Wednesday.

Liberty-Eylau's 2015 season started with a five-point loss to Gilmer, the defending Class 4A Division II state champion, on the road. The team reeled off nine straight wins afterward to win the District 7-4A Division I crown and then won three consecutive postseason games for the right to a rematch with Argyle.

Argyle got the best of the Leopards again. The team was crushed.

A lot of good did come out of the season, though.

Linebacker DeMarcus Pegue II picked up an offer to play college football at Southeastern Oklahoma State while junior defensive end Lagaryonn Carson, already a Texas pledge, became a blue-chip prospect. They joined safety Andre Wiley Jr., a Navy commitment, as scholarship players.

Offensively, senior receiver Thurman Morbley found a landing spot at Texas State after creating nearly a third of Freeman's passing yardage downfield.

Freeman committed to SFA while late larger-school interest continues to bud.

"They're getting an awesome kid," Wells said. "In my opinion, they're getting a steal. I think if he was another inch or two, he'd being going anywhere he wanted to in this country."

Liberty-Eylau, never short of talent even as one of the smallest schools in its classification, is now tasked with finding a replacement.

It doesn't seem to hurt Wells' feelings.

It's time to let Freeman go. As a quarterback.

"I've seen some good ones," the head coach started. "I hired Ryan Mallett's dad (Jim Mallett) as one of my coaches when I was at Hooks. Ryan has, up to this point, the strongest arm I've seen in high school ball. I will tell you Ke'Mon's arm rivals Ryan Mallett's. He's playing in the NFL right now."