MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Jabriel Washington may well be the best player Signal Mountain has faced this season, and the Trinity Christian quarterback has occupied much of the Eagles’ practice moments this week.
As they prepared for Saturday’s Class 2A state championship game in Cookeville, the Eagles heard repeatedly about No. 7.
“They’re very athletic in the skill positions, and they’ll try to spread the field and get you in one-on-one situations,” Signal Mountain coach Bill Price said. “He makes that team go. There are good players around him, but he does a lot on his own and he’s the main man you have to stop.”
Alabama secured a commitment from the 5-foot-10, 175-pound senior early on, and he is projected to play cornerback for the Crimson Tide.
It is easy to understand why. Washington has scored 21 touchdowns — 15 by run and another six on returns — and he has thrown for another 21, which gives him a hand in 240 of the points the Lions have scored this year. He has run for a deceiving 949 yards and passed for 2,263 yards.
He enters today’s game with a 30.6-yard average on punt returns and 30.8 on kickoff returns. His 102 tackles, which include eight for lost yardage, are third-highest on the team. He has punted on occasion.
“Our offense isn’t one-dimensional by any means,” he said. “Our starting tailback tore an ACL earlier in the season, but by me being the quarterback and being versatile most things go through me. But we have great receivers and a great offensive line.”
TCA coach Michael Hodum didn’t envision three years ago what Washington has become.
“I’m a wing-T guy, and when he was a sophomore I wasn’t sure things would work out as they have,” Hodum said. “We didn’t envision this, but the offense has evolved.”
The Lions are in a five-wide spread offense, a long way from a wing-T, and the ball is in Washington’s hands every play.
“One thing for sure, a lot of people say we’re a one-man team and when you think of TCA Jabriel is going to stand out,” Hodum said. “We throw the ball more than a lot of West Tennessee teams, but you still have to run the football to be successful.
“Just say we’re creative with that. We want him touching the ball every play. You’ll hear people on the radio say quarterback draw every time he takes off and runs, but we could be running a counter, a trap, a belly or a gut. We’re blocking like everybody on those plays. It’s just that Jabriel keeps it rather than handing off.”
With the ball is his hands on every offensive snap, it didn’t take long for Washington to realize he might as well wear a bull’s-eye on his jersey instead of a number.
“It isn’t always easy, but I’ve gotten used to it,” he said. “People always try to take out the leader of any pack, but I’ll take any blow for my team.”
While he doesn’t have a red “S” on his chest or sport a red cape, he often has made the best of bad situations. He’s had five fumbles but none were lost. He has thrown eight interceptions but his TD-to-interceptions ratio is almost 3-to-1. In addition to the tackles on defense, he also has made five interceptions.
Hodum sees a versatile and talented team when he looks at Signal Mountain.
“We exchanged tapes and the first one we saw was their game with Trousdale [County],” Hodum said. “You look at a kid and say, ‘Wow, there’s an athlete,’ then there was another one and another one. Then we look at the Boyd-Buchanan game and another group of kids catch your eye.
“We match up with Signal size-wise on the line more than any other opponent we’ve had, but their backs are quick and physical, their receivers are the most physical and biggest and talented bunch we have seen and their quarterback is a Mr. Football finalist, so he’s obviously good.”
Yet it is what they do more than who does it, Hodum said.
“The wing-T is at the core of what I have coached for years, but they do some stuff from the wing-T that I haven’t seen, and they execute it so well,” he said. “And the versatility — Signal doesn’t really allow you to substitute defensively. They’ll go from run to pass without making a single substitution, which is something we don’t see a lot; maybe in a 4A team or higher but not so much in 1A and 2A.”