Before the Jefferson High football squad embarks on another run at a state title, before the first passes are aired and blocks thrown and tackles made, weeks even before official practices start on Aug. 16, there is this:
“She’s got a smile that it seems to me…” [CRASH]
“Reminds me of childhood [CRASH] memories…”
“Where everything was as fresh as the bright blue sky” [CRASH]
It is 7:15 a.m. on a warm July morning. Guns N’ Roses is playing really loud, punctuated by the percussion of 200 pounds, give or take, of weights slamming frequently to the floor. The air is perfumed by the rising sweat of two dozen young guys working toward the start of the 2024 Panther season.
Brady Armstrong, a two-way lineman, has just cleaned 275 pounds, lifting the weights to his chest while his teammates cheer him on. “I’m just trying to lift as much as I can,” he says. Two hours in the weight room with his teammates “makes me feel like I did something with my day.”
Quarterback and safety Luke Oxarart says he’s trying to build strength and speed, and especially explosiveness — the ability to burst through the line and past tackles. But he’s also hoping his team will bond. Players spot each other, encourage each other, joke and tease. “As we get nearer to the season,” he says, “you really get close to your teammates.”
“Yeah, the team-building is huge,” says assistant coach Josh Morris, who is minding the workout with head coach Clint Layng. The weight room is loosely segregated — freshman on one end with the lighter lifts, seniors on the far end with big weights. “But,” Morris says, “they’re all urging each other on.”
For the last four years, the Jefferson football program has followed a workout regime developed by former Panther Trase LeTexier, now assistant strength and conditioning coach at Washington State University. It’s about building strength, says Morris, but also about flexibility and movement. (The Panther volleyball, basketball, wrestling and tennis teams have summer work-outs of their own.)
Each morning, four days a week through June and July, there’s a different plan — typically starting at 7 a.m. with movement warm-ups in the gym, followed by an evolving schedule of lifting, and often finishing with informal work on the field. In June, the focus is on lower weights and higher repetitions; by the end of July, the kids are doing fewer reps and more weight.
Lineman Kolbe Michaud turns it into a game: “I like to think that If I don’t get that [weight] up, the world is going to end,” he says. Or zombies will catch him, whatever. This is work, but it’s fun. Even the freshmen, who seem a little intimidated by the whole thing, say they’re having a great time.
Bringing those first-year students into the mix is important. The Panthers are coming off their third consecutive appearances in the Class B state semi-finals. But they’ll have a young team this year, and a relatively small one — probably around 35 players, Morris says. The freshman group is large — 14 or 16 have been showing up most days — and they’ll provide the foundation for what comes next.
This morning’s workout is winding down. Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust” trails off, and out of nowhere, “Happy Birthday to You” emerges from the play mix. It’s Coach Layng’s birthday, and he’s serenaded by two dozen boisterous, sweaty teenagers.
Layng, not really one for public displays, flashes a quick, awkward grin, then returns to business: “Make sure you pick the weights up.” They’ll be back the next day at 7.
