Wiedmer: Baylor's Jackson Powell is as good as it gets at lifting heavy stuff [video]

If you've been frequenting social media websites the last few days, you may already know about the incredible weightlifting feats of 16-year-old Baylor School sophomore Jackson Powell.

He's the young man who recently was filmed squatting 725 pounds, which among other things was 75 pounds more than the best showing ever turned in at the school by former Red Raiders record holder and Tennessee Volunteers football great Jacques McClendon.

"And he wanted to put on another plate," Baylor strength and conditioning coach Dave Reynolds said of Powell's herculean effort. "I said, 'No, you're done.' But he really is special. Unofficially, Jackson is probably the strongest 16-year-old in the country."

He's certainly become one of the strongest social media stars since the video first hit the web last week. Across all platforms he's believed to be approaching at least 35,000 hits in less than five days. Of course, given that the official national record in the squat for his age and weight class - Powell checks in at a sturdy 5-foot-10, 300 pounds - is 605 pounds, such interest and fascination are understandable.

"He has a perfect lever for this," Reynolds said of Powell's build. "His levers are incredible."

Reynolds has been at Baylor almost 17 years. He says he's seen a lot of strong athletes come through the elite private school near the foot of Signal Mountain.

"But I've never had a kid who's made the jump (in weightlifting) that Jackson has."

Thanks in part to the video of Powell's squat, that jump has caught the attention of Louie Simmons of Westside Barbell, which often is viewed as the top weightlifting facility in the country. Beyond that, as Westside's website explains, you don't call them, they call you.

To that end, Simmons recently reached out to Reynolds from Westside's Columbus, Ohio, headquarters with a six-word request: "I need to meet this kid."

Reynolds says Simmons will meet a kid "as country as cornbread. First time I met him during football camp I was telling him about the iPad he'd receive. He told me, 'I don't know anything about the Ninnernet.' But he's impossible not to like. He's probably got the biggest following of anyone in school."

Told this late Monday morning, Powell replied, "I like to think I'm a pretty humble person. I've stayed under the radar so far, but it also shows the work I'm doing is paying off."

And not just inside the weightroom.

When the Baylor Mechanics Club that Dr. Robin Fazio presides over needed to move an electric motor from the shop to Fazio's car, Powell picked it up and carried it the 25 or 30 yards it needed to travel.

Same with a transmission a friend of his was tinkering with last year at A-1 Towing, where Powell often works on weekends.

Then there was the 450-pound boulder that Powell moved the 40 yards or so from his aunt and uncle's old house in Georgia to their new house on the same property.

Said Powell of that titanic tote and others: "I just love to find heavy stuff and pick it up. It's kind of an ego thing."

There's also a kind of comedy thing going on with Powell, which almost certainly further endears him to all those he meets.

"One day at football practice," Reynolds recalled, "he says, 'It's hotter than a mule mare in a pepper patch.'"

When he believes one of his friends or teammates has said or done something less than intelligent, Powell often responds, "You're about as sharp as a bowling ball."

With a nod to a grandparent, he's been known to observe, "I'll just thank you until I'm better paid."

And where does this wit and wisdom come from?

"I'm a big fan of (the late comedian) Jerry Clower," Powell said. "He always said that Southerners find humor in everything, and I try to do just that. I'm always trying to lighten the mood, no matter how sad the moment might be."

His return to the Baylor football team after sitting out last season with a herniated disk due to weightlifting should certainly improve the mood of Red Raiders fans eager to forget last season's 4-7 record.

"We hope Jackson can play noseguard and center," Reynolds said. "He's got the ability; he just needs to learn to play lower and use his strength."

For a kid who was unfamiliar with the internet when he arrived at Baylor, who remains as country as cornbread, it didn't necessarily figure to be a smooth transition to one of the South's oldest and most tradition-rich prep schools.

But Powell, whose younger sister Leslie also attends Baylor, says of the school: "I like it that you can be yourself as a person. So different from anyplace else I've ever been."

Asked if his sister shares his athletic genes, Powell replied, "No. But you can put any picture in front of her and she'll draw it perfectly. She's an artist. She has a lot of talents I don't."

Where his talents picking up heavy stuff will ultimately lead him no one knows. Powell does expect his football days to be behind him after his Baylor career ends. Assuming he continues to be as precocious with the weights as he has thus far - he expects to begin entering organized competitions soon - Reynolds believes he might one day make a nice living in that arena.

"The money's not real good in weightlifting right now," Reynolds said. "But by the time he gets to that level it could be."

Especially if his fame continues its viral spike on the Ninnernet.

Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.