Caden Story has spent the last couple of years playing alongside his older brother and Alabama 2020 signee, Kristian Story, as he broke state records, won a Mr. football award and led the Lanett Panthers to multiple state championships.
Caden is now working on his own Story by garnering interest from several Power 5 programs, including Alabama.
The Lanett product is expected to be one of the top recruits in the nation in the 2022 recruiting cycle. Auburn, Tennessee and Maryland have extended offers to the 2022 prospect.
“It feels good to get them because that is something you dream of,” Caden Story said.
Similar to both of his older brothers, Caden was originally trained as a quarterback until he hit a growth spurt.
“He went from 5-11 and 183 pounds to 6-4 and 240 pounds, where he currently stands,” Caden’s father and Lanett head coach, Clifford Story, said. “That happened pretty quickly. I knew going into last season, Kristian would be our starting quarterback and I wanted to get Caden involved and get him more playing time so he can start to develop himself. He originally started playing tight end.”
With his long frame, Caden has the size to play tight end at the next level as well as defensive end, a position where he thrived last season.
“He never played defense ever in his life,” Clifford Story added. “We were at practice and I saw him do stuff against air as a defensive end, but we never gave him a chance. One day at practice during a scrimmage, we put him in at defensive end to see if he could handle the contact since he had been groomed as an offensive player. We put him there and no one could block him. He ended up starting there and had a good season. He ultimately liked defense more than offense.”
Caden finished his sophomore season with 68 tackles, 14 tackles for loss and six sacks.
Now that his recruitment is taking off, the 4-Star recruit is staying humble. Caden has had the privilege of watching two older brothers go through the recruitment process and everything that goes along with it. Like normal siblings, the competition level is high between the Story brothers.
It did not take long for some trash talk to fly around between Caden and Kristian when the Auburn Tigers offered.
“He (Caden) has been telling Kristian he is going to be better than him and be more highly recruited,” Clifford Story said. “Kristian has told him if he goes to Auburn and play tight end, he is going to come down and hit him hard across the middle. It is all fun. I am excited about how he (Caden) is handling things so far.”
Nick Saban and his coaching staff have made it clear they want to keep the in-state talent home and it may not be long before Alabama extends an offer to the rising prospect.
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Justin Smith is a Scouting/Recruiting analyst for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter, via @Jdsmith31Smith
