Jefferson upgraded key athletics facility to ‘set a new standard’
Nearly 6,000 square feet, 28 squat racks, four state-of-the-art stations for injury rehabilitation and other specialized workouts, custom inlaid platforms, and widespread branding.
No, this isn’t a Division I football facility—this is the new weight room of the Jefferson High School Dragons.
The school’s coaches say the facility, renovated in June, has given them an edge already this season. The girls’ volleyball team recently won its first-ever state championship. The football team is back in the playoffs, opening Friday against Monroe, after losing five-star linebacker Sammy Brown to graduation last season.
“We should be able to perform our workout in a dungeon and work hard and get better still, but when you’ve got the next level pieces of equipment, you’re giving yourself a competitive advantage,” said Mike Morgan, Jefferson’s director of strength and conditioning.
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Earlier this month, the volleyball team defeated Calhoun High School in three straight sets to earn its first state title in school history. Head coach Brittani Lawrence credited the new weight room and Morgan for assisting in the historic playoff run.
“We were able to transfer everything that they learned in the weight room onto the volleyball court,” Lawrence said. “Mike has done a great job of really building those complexes to make sure that, No.1, we’re doing the proper form, and No.2, we’re preventing injury, and if injury did occur, that we’re modifying if needed.”
Unlike many high schools, Jefferson’s weight room features cutting-edge equipment, including machines and bendable barbells designed to improve athletes’ speed, explosiveness and vertical jump. The injury-rehab stations offer double-sided squat racks, lat pulldown machines and a belt squat machine.
This new equipment helped the volleyball team prevent injuries, Lawrence said, with only one minor injury occurring all season.
The renovations benefited not only the volleyball team but also the football team, which just finished the regular season with a 7-3 record. The weight room accommodates 80 athletes at once. With a roster of 86 players, the football team has found the additional space and equipment to be extremely beneficial thus far.
“I’ve always believed in common sacrifice, and the more people you can have working together at the same time, all paying the same price, it creates a mindset of toughness,” Jefferson football head coach Travis Noland said.
Before the renovations, the football team was forced to workout in separate groups due to the lack of space and raised wooden platforms that limited the kinds of workouts the team could do. Now, with the introduction of the inlaid platforms and increased number of squat racks, every athlete is able to perform the same workouts at the same time, producing a culture of togetherness.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re a kicker, quarterback or offensive tackle, they all do the same things in that weight room, and by having the space and the size with the remodel and then being together, it’s a big deal for us,” Noland said.
The remodeled weight room provided a fresh start, and every Jefferson player has felt that since the beginning of the 2024 season, three-star Georgia State commit Kelan Butler said.
“I feel like we’ve set a new standard in the new weight room because we started off strong, and we know it’s a new way with new weights and we’re all happy about it,” Butler said. “We all started off heavy with higher maxes than ever.”
Butler noted that the renovations put Jefferson ahead of some of the universities he visited as a recruit.
According to Morgan, the reaction from both staff and players has been positive overall. The fresh paint, platforms lined with Jefferson’s signature diamond J’s, and new equipment have created a more enjoyable and effective weight room.
“I was amazed,” Butler said. “I had no clue what it was going to look like. They said it was going to be new, but I didn’t think it was going to be as new as it is right now. It’s like, it’s college, dude.”
Mitchell Stone is a student in the University of Georgia’s undergraduate Sports Media Certificate program.
