Running back Khyan Billups overcame adversity to become St. Joe’s Prep’s driving force on offense

Khyan Billups hasn’t forgotten the day when he had to hit the ground from gun fire at Frankford Park. The North Philly native was age 10 at the time. He along with other kids in the neighborhood would go there to play tackle football.

But that moment changed him, and maybe it explains why the 5-foot-8, 180-pound St. Joseph’s Prep senior tailback runs the way he does.

“My running style comes from my passion, seeing my dad get up every morning and the sacrifices he made for me to be here [at the Prep],” Billups said. “I know a few guys I grew up with that are in prison, and one friend who was killed by gun violence three years ago. I grew up in the projects. We were all close. I still talk to those guys. I run for them. I have to. I feel like I’m their hope because I could be there for kids like that. I was fortunate. I grew up with a dad. None of them did.

“I run for more than myself.”

Billups rose up in the Prep’s depth chart last season to be the Hawks’ driving force toward a third-straight PIAA Class 6A championship, rushing for three touchdowns and a career-best 228 yards on 29 carries. He took the first play of the game 80 yards for a touchdown, and had 177 yards rushing by halftime in the Hawks’ 35-6 victory over Pittsburgh Central Catholic in the state finals.

This season, he has 355 yards rushing on 82 carries, and two touchdowns. The Monmouth-bound Billups will be a key part of the Hawks’ offense on Saturday night, when the Prep (2-3) host archival La Salle (4-1) for supremacy in the Catholic League Red Division at Franklin Field.

He’ll also look to lead the Prep to a magical fourth-straight state title, something no other large school has done in the history of Pennsylvania high school playoffs, which began in 1988.

» READ MORE: How St. Joe’s Prep vs. La Salle became Philadelphia’s ultimate football rivalry

As a junior, Billups sat behind Ohio State-bound tailback Isaiah West, who was lost for the 2024 postseason with an injury. That put the onus of the Hawks’ running game on him.

He has battled the labels of being “too small,” “too fragile,” and “not fast enough,” to be a running back at a premier high school program. He absorbs the doubts with a smiling nod. He knows, for a second-straight year, he is the fulcrum of a three-time defending state champion.

“Khyan has done a great job of being here not only as a student, but in the overall Prep community,” said St. Joe’s Prep coach Tim Roken. “During our summer service trips, Khyan is great with getting the younger guys going. He has a great sense of work ethic. He is the first guy to celebrate our guy’s successes, and to watch his growth from his sophomore year to now has been great. When Isaiah went down, he really took our lead back role and ran with it. I expect big things from him.

“Everything has been a fight for Khy. He had to overcome a lot. On the field, he has great vision, he has great speed. He trusts his blocking up front, and patience in the guys setting up blocks and working off that. For his size, he has great contact balance. He can run between the tackles and run in space. He is very dynamic in that way. He’s also a gritty, passionate runner.”

It is rare that one defender brings down Billups. If La Salle cannot stop Billups, the Explorers could have a long night ahead.

Billups, who carries a 3.0 GPA, knows what he will be facing: A La Salle team coming with an edge, fueled by the Explorers’ 39-36 loss to Roman Catholic last Friday. A month ago, the Hawks had to do some soul searching themselves, after starting the season 0-3 for the first time since 2001, when they responded by winning 10-straight games and the Catholic League championship.

» READ MORE: Get ready for a St. Joe’s Prep-La Salle high school football showdown

“We were challenged in the beginning of the season and we had to stay together and work,” Billups said. “No one panicked. Coach Roken told us to block out the outside noise and stay in our bubble. We didn’t let the start get to us too much. We know who we are. We know what we’re capable of doing. After we lost to St. Francis [34-26 defeat on Sept. 13], I knew we would be all right. That was a competitive game. That was the game I paid attention to.

“I expect this to be a great game against La Salle. They have a great, talented team. La Salle thinks they have something to prove, but I think we do, too. For us, we have to attack every plan Coach Roken throws at us every day and play to the best of our capabilities. This team is so much better, and our confidence is so much higher than it was a month ago.

“Coach Roken always talks about us having a target on our backs, that we’re the villains everyone wants to beat.”

Billups remembers being frustrated as a kid each time his father Quaron would pick him up early when darkness descended in the small park he would play pick-up football with his friends. He didn’t understand why.

“I do now,” Khyan said. “When I was [10], we would play at Frankford Park to play, and I heard this pop, pop, pop, and it started to get a little late. We heard this gun fire, and my 10-year-old self panicked, dropping to the ground. It is something no 10-year-old should be doing. I got home safe. My dad always wanted me to go to the Prep. There was never really any other place I was going to. My father was always looking to protect me.”

Quaron Billups would work 60 to 70 hours a week, doing multiple jobs, from washing dishes to hauling trash. He made sure he kept Khyan in private schools. Khyan remembers barely seeing his father, because he was working so much. He remembers his father would walk around with his eyes half-mast, out asleep as soon as he hit the living room sofa. Quaron would keep the window open in the winter to stay awake driving Khyan home from practice.

» READ MORE: St. Joe’s Prep running back Khyan Billups shows an ‘undeniable hunger’

“It was bad then, but the gun violence is far worse now, and I didn’t want Khyan around any of that,” said Quaron, who now owns a hauling business and has never missed a Hawks’ game. “It was dangerous when Khy was a kid, and it is more dangerous now. I wanted to keep him active, playing football and running track. We’re better off. I had to have two jobs when Khyan was growing up. I started washing dishes, to driving a trash truck for Waste Management, and then to SEPTA. When COVID hit, that was rough for us. My SEPTA hours were cut and I started driving trucks up and down the East Coast.”

Up until Khyan was in fifth grade, Quaron had about four hours of sleep a night. He would get Khyan up for school before he left. When Khyan was in eighth grade, Quaron branched out and started his own business.

“I always see my dad working, and that has instilled a work ethic in me,” Khyan said. “I’m not angry at the world, but I run angry. I owe it to him. It’s why I say I run for more than myself. I’m running for my dad, my baby sister Sage, my mom Shakean, my brother Kayden and sister Khylice, my teammates and this Prep coaching staff that trusts me. I can’t let them down. Off the field, I’m jolly. I have a goofy side. I want everyone to feel good around me, and if everyone feels good around me, I can feel good.

“On a football field, I’m different.”