Former King’s Fork High School football standout Darran Butts recently earned the Big South Conference Freshman of the Week award at Hampton University.

The Suffolk native had a strong performance for Hampton last weekend in the team’s win over Howard University. During the game, Butts put together 199 all-purpose yards, including a 70-yard receiving touchdown and a kickoff return that went for 90 yards that he nearly scored on. The 70-yard touchdown was Butts’ first official college score.

“I’m feeling good,” Butts said. “I just want to keep consistently stacking good performances.”

Butts, a 2018 graduate of King’s Fork, redshirted his first season for the Pirates last year. Academically, he wanted to put himself in a better position to give him a chance to see the field in 2019, and he did that by finishing his first year of college with a 3.0 grade point average. On top of that, he was able to continue working out, getting bigger, stronger and faster and acquainting himself more with the playbook.

“Redshirting was a great experience,” Butts said before the start of the season. “I got to learn the offense more and just working on myself to become a better player. I feel like it was all worth it. It made me hungry and made me work hard every day on and off the field.”

Butts had a strong career for the Bulldogs. He became a full-time starter during the 2016 season and totaled more than 1,300 yards of total offense. He was an All-Conference selection during that season before returning for an even better senior season. During his senior season, Butts was among the top rushing leaders in the Southeastern District. He helped King’s Fork to a 9-1 record in the district and their first Southeastern District title in school history. He also took home the district Offensive Player of the Year award that year and was a first team All-District, All-Region and All-State selection. The Suffolk native was also the recipient of the 2017-2018 Suffolk News-Herald Fall Male Player of the Year award.