No. 9 JSerra has new look ahead of showdown with No. 1 Mater Dei
SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, Calif. (BVM) – Pat Harlow became head coach of the JSerra High School football team by complete accident.
Following an impressive collegiate career at USC where he was the recipient of the Morris Trophy – an award voted on by players and bestowed upon the best lineman in the conference – Harlow was the No. 11 overall pick in the 1991 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots. The former first-round draft pick spent eight seasons in the NFL and started 94 games at tackle before retiring in 1998.
Harlow said he was offered a job coaching offensive line for the Oakland Raiders following his retirement, but turned it down because he didn’t want to coach. It wouldn’t be Harlow’s last offer to coach, but the next inquiry came from a kid who lived across the street from him.
“He played offensive line and came over to say, ‘Mr. Harlow, will you come over and help coach our football team?’
“No, I’m good,” Harlow replied.
The same teenager came back a few months later and asked if Harlow would help with spring ball for two to three weeks.
“I can do anything for that long,” Harlow told the kid. “Twenty years later, here I am.”
Harlow has been the head man at JSerra since late 2016 and has assembled a coaching staff with a wealth of NFL experience.
Co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Sam Baker was a first-round draft pick of the Atlanta Falcons and played six years in the NFL at offensive tackle. Rob Johnson was a fourth-round pick by the Jacksonville Jaguars, played for six teams during his 11-year NFL career and now coaches quarterbacks for the Lions.
Harlow is no longer new to the coaching ranks, but a new season that kicks off on Friday night might be his toughest task to date.
The new challenges of a spring season will be felt by programs all across the state of California, but JSerra must also navigate losing 16 standout players from the program due to transfers, eight of which were first- or second-team all-league players.
“We have, in high school athletics, a bigger job than winning and that’s developing young men,” Harlow said. “Sometimes, in today’s day and age, it’s all about getting recruited and the kids, and even parents, aren’t worried so much about the development of the children as young men in society.
“Sometimes they get tired of me preaching character and integrity; they just want to talk about scholarships and winning league championships. We’re here to win championships, but we’re here to build champions first and foremost. That’s what we’re going to do here and if this isn’t the place for you, sorry to see you go, but we’ll move on; we’ll have guys.”
Despite the exodus of talent and an inexperienced roster, JSerra is the No. 9-ranked team in the state of California and opens the 2021 season with a showdown against No. 1 Mater Dei on Friday night.
The Lions’ roster is headlined by three-star offensive tackle Mason Murphy who is committed to USC, but will be without linebacker Jaden Genova who compiled 84 tackles and three forced fumbles last season. Genova will sit out and gear up for his collegiate career at Army.
Harlow said that sophomore Edward Schultz is “one of the most explosive cats around that nobody knows about,” and a guy who will play safety and receiver. Senior Jordan Washington and sophomore Hunter Nowell are two more guys, among others, who Harlow is excited about.
Sophomore Jaxon Potter will start at quarterback for JSerra while freshman Dylan Mills “has a chance to be really special” at the position, Harlow said.
There will be plenty of new faces on the field for the Lions this season, but there are no excuses in the Trinity League. Harlow said he told his team on Monday that he’s never backed down from anything his life, and he doesn’t expect the Lions to back down this season, or when they take the field on Friday night with No. 1 Mater Dei.
“I never want to see us back down from anything,” Harlow said. “If we lose, make them earn it. But we’re going to go out and play hard.”
