Inderkum High School football coach Terry Stark wasn’t a bit surprised when former Tiger Vince Mayle was drafted as a receiver by the NFL’s Cleveland Browns in the fourth round last Saturday, May 2.
“He fast, he’s physical and he’s athletic,” Start said of Mayle, listed as 6-foot-3, 219 pounds by his college, Washington State. “He’s bigger than defensive backs he plays against, and he’s just as fast or faster. He’s also strong and has real good hands.”
Mayle was a semifinalist this year for the Biletnikoff Award, given annually to the nation’s top receiver. He had a WSU single-season record of 106 receptions, scoring nine touchdowns. His 1,483 receiving yards were third most in the country. Sports Illustrated named Mayle an honorable mention All America.
Stark also coached one of Mayle’s soon-to-be Cleveland Browns teammates, Marlon Moore, nearly a decade ago at Natomas High School. After Mayle was drafted by the Browns, Stark texted Moore, asking him to take Mayle under his wing.
“Take care of Vince and teach him the ropes,” Stark wrote. “And teach him to put his money away and to be a good pro.’
Asked to describe Mayle, Stark said, “He’s a great kid who just wanted to play sports. We could see he had (NFL) talent but he just loved basketball – and that’s how he thought he was going to make it, through basketball.”
Mayle played both basketball and football at Inderkum High School. On the gridiron, he played tight end his junior year, then halfback as a senior. He was named Tri-County Conference Offensive Most Valuable Player as a senior He also was All-Metro League first team at running back, tallying 14 touchdowns and rushing for 661 yards. He caught 11 passes for 299 yards.
From Inderkum, Mayle went to Shasta Community College and played basketball for a year, averaging 8 points per game. He then took a year off before opting in 2012 to play football at Sierra College, where he was named to the All-America first team by the California Community College Association after leading all junior college receivers with 16 touchdown catches. He snatched 61 passes that year for 984 yards.
Transferring to Washington State as a junior, he tallied 42 catches for 539 yards that year, then more than doubled that total this year.
Mayle is the third Tiger coached by Stark to play professional football: Eric Pinkins was drafted last year by the Seattle Seahawks and LaDon Hudson plays arena football for the Las Vegas Outlaws.
Click here to see highlights of Mayle’s season at Washington State this year, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WofMzfz8Cps, and click here to see him in action at Inderkum High in 2008, http://www.hudl.com/athlete/1799254/highlights/138231380/v2.
