Today's interviewee is Jenkins coach Jason Cameron, whose team defeated North Murray 41-14 last week in the Class AAA quarterfinals. Jenkins is the first Savannah public school to reach the semifinals since Savannah High in 1969. Jenkins last appeared in 1966.
Jason Cameron, Jenkins head coach
1. It's the first semifinal for Jenkins since 1966, or any Savannah public school since 1969. What does that mean to your team and to Savannah football? "It is a great accomplishment for our football team and the city of Savannah. We reached the quarterfinals the previous two seasons, and now being in the semifinals really puts Savannah football on the map. Our players worked so hard to get here while facing so many obstacles along the way. People do not realize that Jenkins is under major construction due to a new school being built, which resulted in no practice facilities on campus. Since June, our student-athletes have been bused to nearby fields to practice every day. With that said, I am so proud of how our students attacked adversity and were able to win a region championship and now compete in the semifinals."
2. What are the challenges that exist in Savannah among the public schools that has made it difficult for the local teams to emerge? Does it date back to the days of playing up in the highest class? Or is it a basketball town? "When I first moved down to Savannah years ago I would have agreed that Savannah was a basketball city, but I feel it is definitely evolving. You are seeing many more Savannah schools have success across the board in athletics and also seeing many more students sign athletic scholarships to attend different universities. We do have a lot of high schools in Savannah, which makes it tough at times, but at Jenkins we have a phenomenal administration led by our principal, Mrs. Heather Handy, who is extremely supportive of athletics. My staff does a great job of developing our young student-athletes, which I feel separates good teams from great programs."
3. What are the most important things that you and your staff have done since you arrived to put Jenkins in this position? "First, when hiring a staff I made sure I surrounded myself with great, loyal guys that shared a similar vision that I had for this program. As for with the players, the biggest thing we did as a staff was instill discipline and accountability into every student-athlete in our program. I have been part of some great teams that lost close games because they lacked the overall team discipline it takes to win big games. My college basketball coach had a saying that I truly live by: 'I will push you to the point physically and emotionally that you may fall off that cliff, but just know I will be on the bottom ready to catch you.' Myself and my staff are very demanding on the field and in the classroom, but our student-athletes know we love each and every one of them like they're our own children."
4. What does your team do well? What's the scouting report on Jenkins? "We play really good defense. My defensive coordinator, Dan Ligon, and the defensive staff do a phenomenal job of preparing our players, preaching physicality, toughness and swarming to the football. We do a really good job of causing turnovers and capitalizing when we do so. Although our defense gets a lot of credit as they should, our offense has been really explosive this year. Coach Jeb Stewart has done a great job as our offensive coordinator, preparing our guys and adding some wrinkles each week to our scheme. He is as good of a play caller as I have been around and really has our guys bought into playing fast and physical. All we tell our guys is to 'do your job,' and we feel everything else will take care of itself."
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