New QB with UK pedigree, wide-open offense adds jolt to East-West Jessamine rivalry
Heading back to the parking lot after the first football practice this summer, West Jessamine wide receiver Jackson Green knew.
This season — if they got to play it — would be different.
And it could be a lot of fun.
He had a new coach, a new offensive scheme and a new quarterback, his friend Jacob Jones.
“The first practice, it was like, spread out, all these different routes,” Green recalled of that day when he and Jones got a load of Coach Scott Marsh’s plans. “And me and him got in the car and we were just like, ‘This is going to be legit.’ This is exciting.”
The Colts went winless in 2019. They last beat rival East Jessamine in 2014.
But West Jessamine snapped a 14-game losing streak against South Laurel in the season opener two weeks ago. And the Colts will get a chance to halt their Jaguars skid at East Jessamine on Friday night.
Jones, a 6-foot sophomore, already has a college offer from his dad’s alma mater, Kentucky. The son of former UK football quarterback and baseball player Pookie Jones is learning on the fly and has some huge aspirations, including maybe earning Mr. Football honors like his dad did at Calloway County back in 1989.
“I for sure want to be better than him,” Jones said with a smile. “I know he’ll push me to get there and everybody else will too.”
In his first two varsity starts, Jones has learned some things the hard way.
“It’s been tougher for sure,” Jones said. He has four touchdown passes, but also has four interceptions for the 1-1 Colts. “I knew it was going to be hard, but actually playing and getting the reps and then after making some mistakes, I realized it’s not going to be easy.”
Difficulties aside, there’s no doubting Jones’ arm and his head for the game, his coach said.
“He just needs to play more because he’s got so much talent. He’s so smart,” said Marsh, who is in his first year with the Colts after coming out of the Indianapolis high school coaching ranks. Marsh is from Ashland and played football at Morehead State. “The game kind of comes easy to him. … He’s got to get good game reps at full speed and sometimes, with a young quarterback like that, you can do all the practice in the world, but they’ve got to be under the lights on a Friday night, driving the car for it to really sink in.”
There will be no greater contrast in styles on the football field this weekend than the clash between Marsh’s spread offense and East Jessamine Coach Michael Bowlin’s wing-T attack.
“I told the kids this week, ‘We play 53-and-a-third yards wide, and they play in a phone booth,’” Marsh said of the Jaguars’ run game. “That’s not a knock on them. It’s a great style and it’s worked for them for a long time.”
In Marsh’s spread attack, Jones has racked up 450 passing yards in two games, almost half the air production of last season’s Colts offense.
“I just have to be patient and trust the offense and have trust in my coaches, and my players,” Jones said.
Against South Laurel, Green had 203 yards and four touchdowns receiving. He also ran in a TD. In one game, Green had almost a quarter of his total yards from the previous season and more than a third of the scores.
“He’s a tremendous athlete,” Marsh said. “He’s a young man that quite honestly at the end of the year should get all-state consideration. Some of these schools around here need to take a good, hard look at him, because he can play football at a pretty high level. He’s integral to our run game. He’s integral to our pass game. … When you have got a kid like that, you’ve got to get his hands on the football.”
Regardless of Friday’s outcome, West Jessamine’s progress is undeniable, and Green’s senior year is looking up.
“I remember after week one, it was almost like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders,” Green said. “Two or three months ago, I was like, ‘Are we going to play? I’m going to get a senior season?’ Then after week one, after all that happened — the big game, the big win — it just felt great.”
