Jaylen Mbakwe put up a head-turning performance against 7A powerhouse Thompson to lead Clay-Chalkville to the upset win live on ESPN.
The Alabama pledge is lining up at quarterback for Clay-Chalkville this season, but he is expected to play defensive back at the next level.
Mbakwe finished the game with five rushing touchdowns to help the Cougars stay undefeated. He previously told Touchdown Alabama playing quarterback is helping him grow as a leader.
“It has been great,” Mbakwe told Touchdown Alabama earlier this month. “It is just being that leader I have been in in the past. I just got to boost my leadership up a little bit more coming from the quarterback position.”
The game went back and forth, and Mbakwe led the Cougars to comebacks multiple times. The first came when Clay-Chalkville found themselves down 13-0. He led two scoring drives, and punched in back-to-back rushing touchdowns to make the score 14-13 going into the half.
Clay-Chalkville takes the 14-13 lead with a QB sneak by Jaylen Mbakwe @JayMbakwe. pic.twitter.com/zCIJUwOiK0
— Touchdown Alabama Recruiting (@TDARecruiting) September 29, 2023
The Cougars found themselves down again late in the fourth quarter. The Alabama commit came up big again when he ran in a score off a read option.
Alabama 5-Star commit Jaylen Mbakwe @JayMbakwe runs in his 4th TD of the game to put Clay-Chalkville on top. pic.twitter.com/wvBJelw485
— Touchdown Alabama Recruiting (@TDARecruiting) September 29, 2023
Mbakwe sealed the game when he broke free for his fifth rushing touchdown.
Jaylen Mbakwe @JayMbakwe runs in his 5th touchdown of the game to seal things up for the Cougars.
36-26 Clay-Chalkville. pic.twitter.com/usPZv6PRNW
— Touchdown Alabama Recruiting (@TDARecruiting) September 29, 2023
Alabama fans are even more excited to have Mbakwe on the way after his showing on ESPN.
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Justin Smith is the Director of Recruiting for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter, via jdsmith31smith