VirginiaPreps.com - Commonwealth Football Report #21

March 3, 2013

Rod Johnson
VirginiaPreps.com Senior Editor

During football's offseason, few areas of the state have provided as much information as Loudoun County where there's been plenty of commitment, recruiting and coaching change news.

Commitments

Out of Broad Run High School, wide receiver Dorian Jenkins has committed to playing his college football at Shepherd University in West Virginia. The 5-foot-11, 165-pounder collected 24 passes for the Spartans this past season accounting for 592 yards and seven touchdowns in helping them to a 5-5 campaign.

A two-year two-way starter for the program, Jenkins earned first team All-Cedar Run district honors on both sides of the ball his junior season and a second team nod at defensive back last year. In his two varsity seasons at wideout, the Class of 2013 prospect hauled in 58 receptions for just over 1400 yards and 14 touchdowns with six interceptions collected while on defense.

The Loudoun County Raiders recently announced the commitments of five of their soon-to-be graduates as quarterback Jake Lokey committed to Shippensberg University, tight end Isiah Jackson found a home at Ferrum College, linebacker Tyler Pratt opted for Stevenson College, linebacker Nick Anthony picked Bridgewater College and defensive end Deron Davis chose Shenandoah College.

The quintet joins previously committed Raiders Brad Szouka and Trey Taylor who opted for James Madison and Alderson-Broaddus, respectively.

Coaching Changes

Three Loudoun County high schools have announced coaching changes in the offseason and each school has brought in guys with impressive resumes.

The Heritage Pride brought in Reed Prosser, a coach who led Millbrook High School to the postseason in five of their last six seasons including a run to the Region II title game in 2007.

The Freedom Eagles recently announced the hiring of former Grafton head coach Jared Van Aker who led the Clippers to the postseason three consecutive times and helped them capture the Region I championship in 2011.

The Potomac Falls Panthers plucked the new leader of their program from the Oscar Smith Tigers signing assistant coach Jason Allen who helped the Eastern Region power collected nine district titles, four regional crowns and two state championships during his time there which included stints in the special teams and defensive coordinator spots.

The Most Successful Area

While we are talking about the Loudoun County schools, let's examine the group of schools from the area that, I believe, is the most successful area in the state from top to bottom since the turn of the century.

Note, I did not say that the Loudoun County schools play the "best" football in the state because that's a bit too much of a subjective statement. But, I did say that the most successful area from top to bottom since 2000 is found in Loudoun County.

Let's look at the facts:

There are thirteen high schools in Loudoun County: Briar Woods, Broad Run, Dominion, Freedom, Heritage, John Champe, Loudoun County, Loudoun Valley, Park View, Potomac Falls, Stone Bridge, Tuscarora and Woodgrove, according to the Loudoun County schools' website (Thomas Jefferson is listed on the site but is technically in Arlington County).

Of those thirteen schools, ten have posted at least one winning season since 2000, eleven of the thirteen have advanced to the postseason at least once and, of the two who have not made the playoffs, one (John Champe) just opened in 2012.

Three schools in the county have collected state championships: Briar Woods (2010, 2011, 2012), Broad Run (2008, 2009) and Stone Bridge (2007).

Eight of the schools have advanced to the playoffs at least 25% of the time (or once every four years) which means that, as a freshman coming into any school in Loudoun County, there is nearly a two-thirds chance that your school will advance to the playoffs before you graduate and that was before the new set up which will only increase those numbers.

Now, get this; less than half (six) of the thirteen schools were even open in the year 2000. In other words, they've gotten to be very good, very, very quickly and virtually every one of them has the potential to get into the postseason and make a deep playoff run.

Thirteen schools with six state championships and forty-two playoff appearances between them.

Fairfax, Hampton and Virginia Beach can make all the claims that they want about playing better football but, for top to bottom success, it's going to be difficult to show me better numbers than the ones Loudoun has put up since 2000. Very, very difficult.

Football Editor Rod Johnson is now entering his tenth year with VirginiaPreps.com having first written for the site in 2003. To keep up with even more high school football news in Virginia, follow him on Twitter @vaprepsrod or find him on Facebook under "VirginiaPreps Rod Johnson". He can also be contacted via e-mail at vaprepsrod@cox.net.

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