Hoosiers in Pursuit of Dual-Sport Star Kiante Enis

Kiante Enis' 3,189 rushing yards this past season is fourth best all-time in Indiana. The versatile athlete is one of the Hoosiers Class of 2016 instate targets. - Photo: Lloyd Mullins/for the Richmond Palladium-Item

Written By: Nick Holmes (@HoosierHolmes)

In the day and age where more and more athletes are specializing and focusing on one sport, it has become increasingly rare to find someone who excels both on the hardwood and the gridiron, but that’s exactly what Winchester’s Kiante Enis is doing. The talented two-sport athlete rushed for 3,189 yards for the school’s football team this past fall and recently reached the 1,000 career scoring mark during the basketball team’s 51-24 win against Monroe Central.

In addition to eclipsing the 3,000 yard mark for the Golden Falcons football team, Enis scored 49 rushing touchdowns, surpassed the 100+ yard mark in 11 of 12 games, and averaged 10.9 yards per carry. He also threw for a touchdown and caught a touchdown pass. As a result of his outstanding junior season, Enis was named to the 2014 Associated Press Indiana All-State Class 2A team.

While Enis’ performance in 2014 was impressive, the 6-foot 2, 190-pound senior-to-be has only just begun to scratch the surface of his potential as a football player.

“Football hadn’t really been a great deal in my life until my sophomore year, last year, when Coach Jones finally talked me into playing football. And football’s actually been rising and I’m really starting to like it too,” Enis said.

In just two seasons Enis has laid claim to the school’s single-game, single-season and career touchdown records. And while it’s clear Enis is a naturally gifted athlete, it’s his work ethic, as pointed out by Winchester’s head football coach and athletic director Mike Jones, which sets him apart from his peers.

"He's obviously a very talented young man, but talent only takes you so far," Jones said. "You don't rush for 3,000 yards in a season or score 1,000 points in your career unless you're working at it. I think that's one of the biggest things folks sometimes have a tendency to not give him enough credit for. In football, he's as hard a worker as we've had, and I would suspect you'd hear similar things from coach Fine.”

Enis, whose uncle Curtis starred for Penn State at running back in the 1990’s, possesses good vision, balance, and demonstrates great patience when carrying the ball, waiting for the play to develop and for blocks to get set up. 

Enis is one of three instate running backs who hold an offer the Hoosiers, including Brownsburg’s Toks Akinribade and Ben Davis’ Chris Evans. However, if the Hoosiers were to land all three of these talented prospects, there’s little chance that they would all wind up at running back.  Akinribade could project as a linebacker at the next level while Evans could see time at wide-receiver or in the secondary.

The three-star prospect is ranked the 36th best running back nationally and the 7th best player in the state of Indiana according to 247Sports. Enis currently holds offers from Indiana, Miami (OH), and Western Michigan for football and an offer from IPFW for basketball.