JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – NewsJax’s high school football Spring Swing continues daily throughout spring practice across the First Coast. Today, we’ll take a quick look at Jackson.
Heartbreak is the best way to describe how Jackson saw its football season end last year. A coin toss kept the Tigers from reaching the playoffs for the first time since 2010.
Despite having a very young team, Jackson went 4-5 under head coach Antoine Atwater last season.
This year, they want to build on what they started a year ago.
“It’s hard to kind of forget about last year,” said Atwater. “I would say we use it as motivation. But we also use it as a building block to propel us into the next season.”
Jackson will once again be a young team in 2019.
It is expecting to have only four or five seniors on the entire roster. They’ve used this spring as an opportunity to groom some of the inexperienced players on the roster who will be counted on heavily this fall.
“Springtime is when you want to see growth,” said Atwater. “You get about 20 practices where you can develop kids and get them ready for the fall, summer camps, and 7-on-7 camps. We’re focused on developing them into really good players”
Jackson 2019 football schedule
Aug. 23, Father Lopez at Jackson
Aug. 30, Jackson at Stanton
Sept. 6, OFF
Sept. 13, Westside at Jackson
Sept. 20, Wolfson at Jackson
Sept. 27, Jackson at Fernandina Beach
Oct. 4, Baldwin at Jackson
Oct. 11, Jackson at Episcopal
Oct. 17, Jackson at Englewood
Oct. 25, Jackson at West Nassau
Nov. 1, Jackson at First Coast
All games at 7 p.m.