Warm welcomes around area
Whether on hot fields or in cooler gyms, local teams open practice
It’s like riding a bike.
That’s how Robert Jackson described his return to coaching at Landstown High in Virginia Beach on Thursday, the first official day of Virginia High School League football practice.
“I was excited and couldn’t sleep. It felt like old times,” he said. “I look forward to working with young people. I’ve got a chance to try to improve on what we had going here, and it gave me a chance to come full circle.”
Jackson returns to Landstown, where he was the school’s first coach when it opened in 2001. He led the Eagles to records of 4-6 and 5-5 before leaving to become a Norfolk State assistant.
Prior to that, he led Bayside to back-to-back Beach District titles in 1999 and 2000, winning 26 games over three seasons.
After leaving Norfolk State, he led Salem to six straight playoff appearances, and 10 postseason trips in his 11 seasons. He won more than 100 games with the SunDevils and came within one victory of reaching the Group 5A state championship game in 2013 and 2014 — losing to eventual champion L.C. Bird both times.
He left Salem to become athletic director at Norcom High in Portsmouth, but when the administration couldn’t come to a consensus after firing a coach prior to the 2019 season, he was asked to step in for one season. He led the Greyhounds to a 7-5 record and a berth in the Class 3 Region A tournament.
Back at Landstown, he has surrounded himself with some “seasoned” and young coaches he can trust.
“All I have to do is stand here and point,” Jackson said.
The coaching staff includes Tom Anderson, who opened Landstown High with Jackson. The staff also includes former Indian River head coach Marcus Ferebee and several former players, including former Salem standout Bucky Hodges.
“Bucky was a great player for us and he called me and wanted to get into coaching,” Jackson said. “I didn’t hesitate. I try to look out for my own, guys who did what they did for us.”
The staff also includes his son, Robert, who admits he was surprised his father returned to coaching.
“It’s real different because I’ve been out here since I was a little boy running around behind him’“said the younger Jackson, who starred for Norcom. “I’ve learned a little bit more, and I’m just trying to show what I’ve learned.”
Oscar Smith eyes three-peat
Oscar Smith last season became the first team from South Hampton Roads to win back-to-back state titles since Granby in 194546. and Wilson in 1926-27.
Now, the Tigers will try to become the first South Hampton Roads team to three-peat. Hampton won four in a row from 199598, and Phoebus duplicated that feat with titles from 2008-11.
Asked if the Tigers got to enjoy the title before everyone started talking about a three-peat, Oscar Smith coach Chris Scott chuckled.
“Yeah, we did all offseason. Now it’s time to go,” he said. “This is a special group. They have a chance to do something that no one has done at Oscar Smith. They want to be part of a class that went back-to-back-toback. But with that said, today is day one.”
Lineman Brock Stukes knows how badly the Tigers want it.
“Last season is last season,” said Stukes, a 6-foot-3, 315-pounder who has narrowed his college choices to North Carolina A&T, Maine, VMI, Richmond and Norfolk State. “We can’t talk about (last season) because it’s a new season, and we have a target on our back. We have to be ready.”
Seasoned coaches join Western Branch
There are likely few high school football teams in Hampton Roads that can boast they have more than 150 collective years of coaching experience on their staff.
But Western Branch coach Rashad Cook can. And he has nearly 100 years in just two assistants: former Western Branch coach Lew Johnston and former Ocean Lakes coach Joe Jones.
“They’re good people,” Cook said. “And our kids need to be surrounded by seasoned men who continue to pour into our community. Outside of that, they’re also very good coaches.”
Cook played for Johnston at Western Branch in the late 1990s.
“Rashad is one of my all-time favorite players, and he told me, ‘Coach, we’d like to have your help,’” said Johnston, who begins his 46th season as a football coach and will coach quarterbacks. “I prayed about it and said, ‘You know what, I don’t have anything else better to do.’ But I love working with these kids. It’s in my blood. It’s just good to be back.”
Jones stepped down as head coach at Ocean Lakes in 2021. But after talking with Cook, he decided to return to the sidelines.
“We had an hour-plus conversation,” said Jones, who begins his 30th season on the high school level, but has more than 40 years total. “And when I hung up with him, my wife shook her head and said, ‘You’re getting back into it, aren’t you?’ We have some of the same ideas and philosophies about kids. He’s one of the finest people I know, who also happens to be a very good football coach. And that’s what sold me.”
He’s also looking forward to coaching with Johnston.
“We go to church together, and knowing that he was coming back made it special,” said Jones, who will coach tight ends. “I’m excited. It’s a new chapter in my life.”
Returnees and newcomers looking to bolster Bruins
On the field, Cook welcomed more than 90 players to open practice Thursday after the Bruins made the playoffs for the first time since 2016.
Western Branch won its first playoff games since 2013 with victories over Franklin County and Manchester.
The Bruins, who finished 10-3 last season, return Paul Billups Jr., a 6-foot-2, 185-pound receiver who had 32 receptions for 572 yards and six touchdowns. They also have speedy running back Shimique Blizzard, who rushed for 1,196 yards and 16 touchdowns last season and was named second-team All-Tidewater. Returning quarterback Taquan Trotman completed 50% of his passes for 1,596 yards and 14 touchdowns.
Cook also is excited about wide receivers Devin Cook, his son, and CJ Fraser. But he’s even more excited about what he has in the trenches.
“Our front line, without a doubt, is going to be a key emphasis to our success this year,” he said. “We have three or four linemen over 6-5 and a junior center (Aiden Lorsong) who is 6-3 and 272 pounds. So we’re seasoned there, so I’m excited about that.”
The Bruins have Lorsong, along with Jayden Chappell (6-5, 310). But they also added Jahzari Priester, a 6-8, 250-pound athlete who decided to come out for football. He also excels in basketball, won the Class 6 state shot put title and placed third in the discus.
Newcomer Camron Warren, a 6-6, 295-pound lineman, played the past two seasons for St. Frances Academy in Baltimore. He is rated among the top linemen in the country and has more than 30 college scholarship offers, including those from Alabama, LSU, Michigan, Penn State, Michigan, Florida and Georgia.
“When I got the job in February of 2020, he was here,” Cook said about Warren, who also is Billups’ cousin. “But when the uncertainty of what the season would look like (occurred because of COVID), he made the decision, which I respect, to go off to St. Frances. But yet, look at how things come full circle.”
Stallions brace for high expectations
Green Run is primed for higher expectations this season.
The Stallions advanced to the program’s first state tournament before falling to Maury in the Class 5 semifinals, and coach Brandon Williams understands the ramifications.
“We know we got a big target on our back,” Williams said. “That’s the beauty of sports. We’ve been through the struggle and we worked to get here, so we’re looking forward to it.”
With a solid mix of seniors and underclassmen, the Stallions lost a talented group but return plenty to contend.
Graduated are quarterback Xavier Davis, who threw a South Hampton Roads-record 47 touchdown passes, UNC-bound Tayon Holloway, defensive back Quedrion Miles and defensive tackle Lemar Law. However, wide receivers Tasean YoungStieff and Keylen Adams return with defensive backs Tyler Baker and Milton Ferguson. Menchville transfer Kevin White looks to be Davis’ successor.
“This ‘24 class is a very special class and a lot of them have been starting since freshman year,”
Williams said.
New leaders are blooming. “Being a role model to my younger kids that’s looking up to me,” Young-Stieff, a junior, said of his priority. “I know they’re watching me, so I gotta do good things — run my routes good, on time to practice.”
Young-Stieff expressed excitement about the receiving core and White, who has the athleticism to escape the pocket and be a running threat. As a team, Williams believes last year’s run helped solidify chemistry.
“‘We all we got.’ We’ve been saying that since day one,” Williams said. “That definitely is in tune this year with everybody wanting to take down the big dog. So we all we got.”
Braves’ new world: ‘Earn it’
Standing near a 12-foot sign welcoming him back, first-year coach Brandon Carr was eager to kick off his Indian River tenure.
“We just wanna get out here and get sharp,” said Carr, who was a Braves assistant several years ago. “Learn our plays, learn what makes us tick and really get us going in a direction so we can go on to some good things.”
With a young core returning after reaching the Class 5 Region A semifinals, Carr expects a hungry, explosive bunch led by QB Tyler Allison, wide receiver I’Mire Talley, running backs Malachi Hinton and Daeshawn Nixon and defensive back Jakeyse Graves.
“We’re young. We’re explosive,” Carr said. “They’re playmakers. They’re gonna come out and be leaders now.”
As the only senior of those five, Talley feels a large responsibility to them and the rest of the underclassmen.
“Be a good example,” Talley said. “If I can show them that I can do the right thing on the field, they can follow in my footsteps and it just goes on.”
Carr said, “We go by a motto, ‘Earn it,’ where nothing is given to us,” he said. “We’re not looking for any handouts. We’re here to grind it out, work hard and earn everything we accomplish.”
The message has landed. “They’ve embraced it. They love it,” Carr said. “Weight-room numbers shot up this offseason, and it’s starting a trickle effect to our younger kids coming up from middle school . ... They’re buying in right now.”