It still has not stopped for the senior, who has experienced success in almost everything he’s done at Boone County.  In addition to joining the long line of 1,000-yard rushers at Boone County, reaching that mark each of the past two seasons, Farris has also excelled on the baseball diamond.

As a catcher he hit over .400 his sophomore and junior seasons and received the 9^th Region’s lone honorable mention on the all-state team.

While Farris has excelled at both sports at Boone County, he always knew that to continue at that same level of excellence in college, he’d have to make a choice.

For Farris, the choice has always been clear.  Before the start of the football season began, he made a verbal commitment to play baseball at the University of Kentucky.

“I’ve always liked baseball, it’s my favorite sport,” Farris says.  “I’m going to miss football, but I know I have to focus on baseball a little more, especially in college.”

Although he says the Wildcats’ football coaches are still courting him to come play for them, his decision to focus on baseball means that this will most likely be his final season on the football field.  And to go out with a bang, Farris has one final goal.

“I want to beat Shaun Alexander’s record,” says Farris, whose total of 3,369 career yards at the start of the season was just 127 short of what the 1995 Boone County graduate and 2005 NFL MVP had heading into his senior year with the Rebels.

As a senior, however, Alexander rushed for 3,166 yards, the second highest single-season total in Kentucky state prep football history.  It would take an Alexander-type performance for Farris to end his career as the Rebels’ all-time leading rusher but the No. 2 spot currently occupied by 1998 graduate Preston Herron (5,014) is clearly within reach.

It's not as if he's not trying, though.  Farris has rushed for 500 yards through the Rebels' first two games. 

Farris spent the summer playing for the Midland Redskins, a team that among its many future major leaguers has included Ken Griffey, Jr. and Barry Larkin.  With Farris’ help, the Redskins reached the Connie Mack World Series, which meant that while Farris was fighting for a title in New Mexico, his teammates were sweating out two-a-days in Florence.

“Last year I didn’t play as many games,” says Farris, who is in his first season with the Midland team.  “This year we’ve been out of town so much.  I’ve tried to get up to practice and keep in touch (with head coach Rick Thompson) a lot.  He’s come to some of our games.  We talk about what the line is doing and how things are going.”

“Cory’s not the first running back who was awfully good at baseball,” says Thompson, citing running backs Brandon Black and Jason Colemire. “Both those guys were tremendous baseball players.”

Black and Colemire are not the only former Boone Country backs Farris brings to mind.

“I talked with Coach Owen Hauck - of course he’s seen all the great backs,” says Thompson, who served as an assistant under Hauck from 1985 until he took over as head coach in 1998.  “Cory has a little more size and runs big and strong like George Rudd.  People used to say things like that about Shaun Alexander.  It’s just a matter of his size making him more deceptive.  Shaun was kind of the same way.”

“Cory is a big kid and a pretty good running back and very athletic.  He’ll fit in with most of our other backs,” says Hauck, who started the Rebels running tradition in 1973.  “If you’re asking if he’s another Shaun Alexander - no he isn’t - but he fits in well.”

It was another comparison that nearly kept Farris from gaining membership into Boone County’s fraternity of great running backs.  After the Rebels had reached the state semifinals in 2004 with a passing and rushing threat under center during Farris’ freshman season, thoughts turned to Farris filling that role as a quarterback as a sophomore.

“The thought process was maybe we could make him like Quron Meeks,” Thompson says.  “I think Cory could do it, but we had trouble getting him to relax.  It was like he was always trying to throw a guy out at second. Corey’s the toughest guy on himself.”

Midway through the season, sophomore Shawn Bogle was shifted from receiver, where he was struggling to adapt, back to his normal position at quarterback and Farris was restored to his natural spot as a running back.

“He had the ball in his hands and was rushing for a lot of yards,” Thompson says. “I don’t know that I’d change the decision.”

Farris still managed to finish the season with 1,652 yards, the second highest total ever for a Boone County sophomore.  As a junior last year he led all Northern Kentucky running backs with 1,716 yards during the regular season.

With his commitment to baseball giving him one last season on the gridiron, Farris says he has even more motivation to climb Boone County’s impressive list of rushing leaders.

“It’s definitely going to make me work a lot harder, because I realize it is going to be my last season,” Farris says.  “I’m just going to give 100 percent every game knowing it could be my last.”

Thompson, however, is not so sure we’ll be seeing the last of Cory Farris in a helmet and pads.

“Cory’s first love is baseball,” he says.  “I told him some opportunities were going to come up football-wise.  Guys are going to ask.  He’s always kept the football option open, but baseball has always been his choice”

“I’m still certain by the end of football he’ll have heard some flattering things.”

Boone County All-Time Leading Rushers

1. Shaun Alexander, (92-95) 6,670

2. Preston Herron, (95-98) 5,014

3. John Ransdell, (86-88) 4,670

4. George Rudd, (76-78) 4,661

5. John Alford, (88-90) 3,861

6. Shane Beckett, (81-83) 3,697

7. CORY FARRIS (05- ) 3,373