For the first time in a long time the preseason high school football talk emanating out of St. Matthews isn’t solely centered around Trinity.
Of course the Shamrocks will still be one of the top teams in Class 6-A, but another school – one located less than two miles from Trinity’s campus – has more than just the 40207 zip code buzzing.
Waggener enters this season ranked No. 7 in 3-A in The Courier-Journal’s preseason coaches poll and with title aspirations.
“Our goal this year is a state championship,” second-year coach Jordan Johnson said.
It’s been a meteoric rise for Waggener, which was a combined 20-88 from 2005-2014 before posting the program’s first winning record (6-5) in 11 years last season.
“It’s definitely been a whirlwind,” Johnson said.
Despite losing 19 players off last year’s squad, the Wildcats’ windfall is expected to continue thanks to the return of an ample amount of talent, led by their junior class.
MORE COVERAGE | Class 3-A preview, preseason poll
Heading the Class of 2018 contingent is Jairus Brents, a 5-foot-10, 180-pound super-speedy running back-wide receiver/defensive back. Brents, who won the 100- and 200-meter dashes at the 2-A state track meet and was timed at 4.29 seconds in the 40-yard dash in the offseason, is the team’s top returning rusher (20 carries for 248 yards and three TDs), receiver (43 catches for 758 yards and 11 TDs) and scorer (102 points). He had 40 tackles and two interceptions on defense to earn C-J All-State honorable-mention honors.
“Jairus’ greatest attribute is his ability to compete,” Johnson said. “It doesn’t matter if we’re playing video games, if we’re playing tic-tac-toe, or whatever it is, he’s going to fight you, if he has to, to win. It’s just that natural aggression and natural competitiveness that just drives him. A lot of people, with the success he’s experienced early on, getting offered (a scholarship) by UK (the University of Kentucky) in seventh grade, a lot of kids, that would slow them down. (But) that has just made him more and more thirsty to want to be better, to want to be more.
“When I sat him down this summer and talked to him about, ‘What are your goals? What do we need to accomplish?’ His two goals are: he wants to get an offer from every BCS school and he wants to be first pick in the (NFL) Draft. That’s what’s driving him.”
Another Wildcat receiving BCS interest is 6-3, 280-pound junior defensive end Tahj Rice, who tallied 57 tackles – including 43 solo stops – last season. He has scholarship offers from Duke, Louisville and Indiana among others.
Waggener’s defense ranked second against the pass (51.9 yards per game) and 12th in points allowed in 3-A last year, but Johnson expects it to be even better this season.
“We’ve really structured our defense a little differently than we have in the past,” he said. “When I was defensive coordinator at Manual, our defense had to be very balanced. It had to be prepared to stop the run and the pass at any moment. In our division, 3-A, we got into it last year and quickly realized there’s no need to be balanced, because nobody’s throwing the ball, so we’ve restructured things a little bit this year.”
Johnson said one of the major changes will be moving Brents from defensive back, his projected position in college, to outside linebacker.
“We gave up way too many rushing yards (last year),” Johnson said. “So we’re really focusing on stopping the run and creating a defense that can play fast and aggressive.”
The Wildcats’ offense should be, too, led by quarterback Larry Harper III. The 5-10, 176-pound senior completed 52 of 76 passes for 786 yards and nine TDs in only four games last season after transferring from Trinity.
“Larry’s a phenomenal leader,” Johnson said. “He demands excellence in the huddle and on the field. Also, off the field he’s what we aspire our kids to be as far as leadership and ability in the classroom and in the locker room. He does all the little things that are necessary to be a great football player.”
The Wildcats lost their top two rushers from last season (Frank Bryant 910 yards, 9 TDs and Johnquise Grady 335 yards, 5 TDs), so this season they’ll employ a running back-by-committee approach. That will include Brents and junior Manny Harper (Larry’s brother) among others.
The younger Harper was the team’s No. 2 receiver last year, recording 20 catches for 321 yards and two TDs.
“It’s the best feeling knowing that you’ve got your brother throwing you the rock,” he said.
While there are plenty of good feelings surrounding the Waggener program after last season, Johnson knows that his team has its work cut out for itself if it’s going to reach its goals. The Wildcats, who were 3-A state runners-up in 1963 and ‘98, will try for their first district title since 2003. Of course that’s no easy prospect considering that district rival Central is 29-0 in district play since Kentucky went to six classes.
“Our goal this year is a state championship, Central is in that way and so of course we want to knock them off for the first time, but there’s a lot that has to be accomplished first,” said Johnson, whose team opens its season Friday night against Iroquois. “I try to teach these guys we’re going one game at a time and we’re focusing on us. We’re going to face many worthy opponents along the way who are going to give us their best shot. If we can go out and do what we’re supposed to do, and become the best men that we can be and become the best we can on the field, and off the field, the rest will happen.”