every play, and that night, he pretty much did.”
McClain finished the game with an incredible
stat line: four interceptions, three of them returned
for touchdowns and one fumble recovery returned
for a touchdown.
This game was Charles McClain at his best. And
like all great players, he had a nose for the football.
“You gotta want to be around the football,” McClain
said. “My little league coach Marcus Dunn always
taught me to make the play yourself and don’t wait
on anyone else to make it. We needed something
special to happen that night. We needed a spark
and I did my best to provide that spark.”
With his college playing options limited due
to his size, McClain signed on to play with the
University of North Alabama, and it didn’t take long
Hoover coach Josh Niblett was the coach at
Oxford during both those seasons and says McClain
was the most unique player he has ever coached.
“Honestly, in all my years of coaching, I have
coached some really good players. Some had speed
and quickness and some were great athletes. Some
were just good football players. Out of all those
types, Charlie was unique in that he had it all. You
hear coaches talk about the “it” factor, Charlie had
“it,” Niblett said. “And if you’re smaller like Charlie
was, you have to bring something a little different to
the table that gives you value. Charlie’s value was he
had unbelievable hands and his quickness was the
best I’ve ever seen. You could not tackle him in a
phone booth. He was an unbelievable player.”
“What Charlie did in that Southside game was
the most amazing individual effort by any player I
have ever coached,” Niblett said. Despite the fact
that Southside was able to move the ball up and
down the field against Oxford, and in the process,
dominate the game statistically, Oxford won the
game 42-0 because of the heroics of one player.
“Charlie pretty much put the team on his back that
night and carried us,” Niblett said. “That was what
was so special a