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By Carey Reeder | Managing Editor

Isabella High School’s Darus Molette was recognized by the Bryant-Jordan Student Athlete Program for his perseverance throughout his high school career for the Mustangs earlier this April. Molette was one of 104 high school athletes presented with an achievement award and scholarship at the 40th annual Bryant-Jordan Student Athlete Awards Banquet held in Birmingham.

The scholarship program is named in honor of the late coaches Paul “Bear” Bryant and Ralph “Shug” Jordan. Each year, 52 regional scholar-athlete winners are selected for their excellence on both the athletic field and in the classroom. Additionally, 52 achievement winners are chosen for their ability to compete in athletics while overcoming major obstacles during their high school careers.

Molette was selected as the Class 2A, Region 4 recipient of the 2025 Bryant-Jordan Scholarship Program’s Achievement Award and received a $3,000 scholarship. The achievement awards were presented for the 37th consecutive year at this year’s banquet. This year, 104 high school regional senior athletes were recognized and awarded more than $500,000 in scholarships through the Bryant-Jordan program.

For Molette, two knee operations and working through being a diabetic did not hold him back from still making a lasting impression on the Mustangs’ program.

“He has just had some bad luck,” Tate Leonard, Isabella head football coach, said. “He kept coming back … When those things happened, he kept coming to practice and he kept being there for the team.”

Molette learned to deal with being a diabetic early on in life being diagnosed at a young age. Although it did not hinder him in the slightest during his high school career, it did give him something else to worry about while playing, but he handled it flawlessly.

“It has never been too much of an issue, just if my sugar went low I just eat something or take my medicine,” Molette said. “I have been a diabetic most of my life, so it was not an issue.”

Molette’s setbacks on the field began his sophomore year in 2022 during Isabella’s homecoming game. Molette was a growing star on Isabella’s defense and was really finding his footing at the linebacker position before he injured his knee tearing his ACL, MCL and meniscus in his right knee. The injury forced him to miss the rest of his sophomore year.

“He became a starting linebacker and started getting really, really good,” Leonard said. “About midway through the season he messed his knee up and had to have his first surgery. That set him back even a bit for his junior year.”

Molette came back from the knee surgery and played his entire junior year and gained confidence in his knee as the season wore on, but it never did get to 100%.

“I was getting my confidence back (my junior year), but my knee was still a little tweaked,” Molette said.

Molette was preparing for his final season in the Isabella program in 2024 and arrived at warmups for the Mustangs’ season opener against Thorsby High School with a sense of excitement. During warmups, Molette was doing his routine and felt a pop in his left knee, the opposite of the surgically repaired one.

“We were doing go-go-outs, and I went go-go and when I went to go out and turn, my knee popped,” Molette said. “I kind of knew instantly what it was because I have felt that before. I was so disappointed because it was my senior year.”

Molette tore his ACL in his left knee and was immediately sidelined from action. The senior worked hard to get healthy enough to play in the final handful of games in 2024, but after the season had to have surgery and was forced to miss his senior track season.

Molette said he would do the same thing again because it meant a lot to have a few more games with his teammates after everything he went through.

“The Isabella program meant a lot (to me), I had a lot of friends and coach Leonard and everyone on the staff is a good coach,” Molette said.

Molette is currently in physical therapy recovering from knee surgery and picked up an interest in the field. He plans to use his Bryant-Jordan scholarship to attend college and pursue a degree in physical therapy to help athletes like himself bounce back from minor setbacks during their athletic careers.