Jefferson hopes to keep making strides

CEDAR RAPIDS - Last season was a watershed year for Cedar Rapids Jefferson football.

After three total wins from 2009 to 2013, the J-Hawks improved to 4-6 and made the playoffs for the first time in Coach Brian Webb's tenure. Behind quarterback Jesse Furrow, Dalton Kuehl and a few others, Jefferson worked toward a change in culture Webb has been searching for since he took over.

Those four wins felt like a low number for Webb and his group, which had strong leadership on the field. Even with most of that gone to graduation, finding the right leadership to fill those spots - in a group Webb has had since they came in as freshmen - has been fairly easy.

'We spent a lot of time in the offseason in leadership meetings, developing leaders,” Webb said. 'I told the kids that I've done a poor job in this program of developing captains and leaders, so I spent a lot of time in the offseason with our leadership program we run in school. I'm quite happy with the kids I have leading us because they've been through all the classes with me and I've really seen it carry over.

'I think we're going to have great leadership this year. This is the first group that came in as freshmen in my first year, so I know this is the first group I've developed in my way. They're excited.”

In terms of production, the J-Hawks lost the best quarterback they'd had in several years in Furrow, but replace him with Jared Eivins, who missed all of last year with a shoulder injury suffered at the end of the 2014 baseball season.

Eivins is in the unenviable position of replacing both heavy production and a leadership role, but he feels more than up to the task.

'They taught us a lot of lessons about how to overcome a bunch of obstacles,” Eivins said. 'We need to keep passing that down from generation to generation. It's a little bit of pressure, but I want to keep it my way. We're a little different - (Furrow) was more of a passer, I'm more of a runner. I don't really feel too much pressure to be exactly like he was.”

Eivins will be surrounded by many of the same skill players who made a big impact on the 2014 team. Running back Tavian Rashed is back as a junior and receivers Many Olutunde and Valentino Green all return to fill skill positions Webb called the most skilled and deep group he's had by far.

As deep and skilled as he believes they are, however, the biggest concern comes on both the offensive and defensive lines, which he called undersized.

'I think the biggest challenge is seeing where everybody fits in,” Webb said. 'The last couple of years we've given up a lot of big plays on defense, so we're trying to limit the big plays this season. I think our schemes are good on defense, we've just given up big plays.

'On the offensive line we've had to replace four of the five there and we're maybe a little undersized as far as 4A football goes, but we have kids who have been here all summer working hard.”

As to whether or not the culture he'd hoped to instill had truly taken hold, Webb pointed to Jefferson's success in wrestling, track and softball and the cooperation of all the coaches on campus as evidence it had.

Rather than encouraging his players to focus only on football, the success his team saw last year was in part, he said, because they'd been multisport athletes and learned common disciplines. If those can continue, he said, the program will continue to improve.

'To me it's athletics program-wide,” he said. 'We had a lot of success at Jefferson as a whole last year. It's the culmination of success and we truly believe success breeds success. It's more than about just (football). We all try to feed and be on the same page philosophy-wise to develop kids. In this day and age, there's not enough kids for them to be one-sport athletes. We have to share these athletes and we've tried hard to do that.”

CEDAR RAPIDS JEFFERSON, at a glance

Coach: Brian Webb (4th year, 6-31)

Last year: 4-6 (4A playoffs qualifier, lost in first round, 35-7, to Bettendorf)

Key returners: RB/DB Tavian Rashed, QB Jared Eivins, WR/DB Manny Olutunde, WR/LB Valentino Green, RB/DB Mason Short

Key losses: QB Jesse Furrow, WR/DB Mason Furnish, LB Luke Sedlacek, OL/DL Kelly May, OL/DL Dalton Kuehl, WR/DB Bryce Lund

Key to making playoffs: Losing key members of the first playoff team in several years won't help, but confidence is high and the skill positions have talent. Building off a solid year last year will require fewer big plays, limited turnovers and capitalizing on winnable games.

Game to watch: After how it ended last season, the game at Kingston Stadium between Cedar Rapids Jefferson and Cedar Rapids Kennedy this season is sure to be full of emotion. The J-Hawks won on the last play and learned a lot about how to win close games. Backing that up against a Cougar team looking for revenge will make it one to see.

Schedule

Aug. 28 - Cedar Rapids Washington

Sept. 4 - at Cedar Rapids Prairie

Sept. 10 - Davenport North

Sept. 18 - Davenport West

Sept. 25 - at Cedar Rapids Kennedy

Oct. 2 - Cedar Falls

Oct. 9 - at Waterloo West

Oct. 16 - at Waterloo East

Oct. 22 - Linn-Mar

l Comments: (319) 368-8884; jeremiah.davis@thegazette.com