The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Titans back on field for work under new coach
Senior QB Jackson on in-person workouts: ‘It feels great’
New Lorain football coach James Boyeas wastes no time preparing his players mentally for the coming season.
Finally able to get back onto the field, new Lorain football coach James Boyeas is wasting no time getting his players mentally ready for the upcoming season.
Boyeas was hired in January and was able to spend around two months getting to know his players. That time turned out to be invaluable, as he was unable to see his team for nearly three months after the state shutdown because of the novel coronavirus.
“That was good, and I think what we were able to do in that short time was lay a tiny bit of our groundwork,” Boyeas said. “In terms of what our expectations are and what we’re going to demand of the kids in terms of the level of commitment, which has been a little bit of a change for some of these guys.”
The Titans are out in the stands at George Daniel Field four days a week learning their new schemes on a whiteboard before taking to the turf to put it all together.
Many of the unlimited practice days granted by the OHSAA to coaches have been used as install and football instruction time for Boyeas and the Titans.
“We’ve got the dry-erase board out there as you can see and we’re going to install typically, we’ll get our install in and then get an opportunity to walk through things,” Boyeas said. “The nice thing is, the way things are going we’re getting more time to do football things with the kids than we would have at this point.”
In an attempt to get his team mentally ready, Lorain has been spending a lot of time on the field during the first and second phases of the state’s restart plan.
In a seven-on-seven workout July 14, senior Devante Jackson took every snap at quarterback. Jackson spent time at wide receiver a year ago, and was an honorable mention on The Morning Journal football all-star team.
Like many of his teammates, Jackson was happy to be out on the field with his teammates after months stuck in the house.
“It feels great, because we’re all about to come back together, we started off cool and now we’re about to come back together as a family,” Jackson said.
“We’ve been in quarantine away from each other. But we had a lot of video chats learning the offense. But now we’re back out on the field and it feels great.”
Boyeas replaces Dave McFarland, who took the Titans to the playoffs twice in his five years as Lorain’s head coach.
“He’s got good energy and I like that. I want to get pushed to the fullest potential I can get pushed,” senior receiver Kamron Thomas said when giving his impressions on his new coach. “Coach McFarland did that too, but he did it in a different way. It was more relaxed, it was more like ‘if you want it go get it.
“But (Boyeas) is going to push you to get it. There’s no ‘If you want it, go get it.’ It’s ‘I want you to go get it, and I want you to succeed.’ “
Lorain finished last season on a four-game winning streak to get to 6-4, but missed the playoffs. The Titans also lost four seniors who are on college teams this fall, meaning Boyeas and company have important shoes to fill.
But Thomas is confident that his teammates will be able to step up to fill the gap left by those four.
“We’ve got some people that started last year that are coming back, so we’re going to make sure that everybody’s in line and getting their mind right,” Thomas said. “Because (coach Boyeas) has different expectations. We’ve got to make sure that everybody can keep that energy that Daylin (Dower), Jordan (Jackson) and Tyshawn (Lighty) had.
“So as senior leaders we have to make sure that everybody has the same expectations that we have.”
The Titans are set to open their season Aug. 28 at home against Brunswick.