Journell does much more than jusk kick the ball
PEARISBURG, Va. — The football team at
Giles High School has been successful because it works not as a collection of
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individuals but a team. But any team has top performers. For the Spartans, Cody Journell is one of those performers.
Last Friday in a 35-28 win over Eastern Montgomery, Journell gained 161 yards on
19 carries, scored two touchdowns and kicked three extra points. His night
helped the Spartans stay in the playoff race and earned him the Pocahontas Coal
Association/Bluefield Daily Telegraph Player of the Week award.
"He's just huge," said Giles head coach Jeff Williams. "A lot of people
look at him as huge as a kicker. But Cody's a football player. He's a good
defensive player. He's one of our best running backs.
"He's a football player. He's an athlete who's a good football player
who happens to be one of the best kickers in the country. It means a lot to you
when you've got somebody like that on your football team."
Putting in a solid performance for one week is one thing. Doing it for a season
is something else.
"I think he's right around 900 yards rushing for the season," Williams
said. "Ever since we've gotten into the district games, he's kind-of
carried the mail for us there in the backfield with a couple other good backs
that we've got."
The senior may have been happy with the award. But he was more focused on
getting his team back into the postseason.
"We have to win this game against Auburn and then we're hoping on Floyd to
beat Radford," Journell said. "That way we'll have that second-seed wild
card into the playoffs."
These concerns are abnormal for a team used to postseason play on an annual
basis. Giles began the year with losses to Blacksburg and Christiansburg which
put them on their back foot.
"We started off with those two losses," Journell said. "But after that, I
think we've grouped together and came back and we've had a pretty good
season after that. We're hoping to keep it going after this week too."
Part of the problem may have been due to a coaching change. The legendary Steve
Ragsdale ended his career last spring and Williams took over.
"It was different at first," Journell said. "It's going to be different
whenever you bring in a new head coach. But I think overall things haven't
changed that much. It hasn't been that hard of a transition for us. I think
we've done well. He's done a good job of helping us get adjusted."
One reason the transition has been easy is that Williams has kept the single
wing offense the Spartans have been known for.
"We've run the same offense since fourth grade," Journell said. "It
would have been hard bringing in a new offense and everything, especially being
seniors and all. I think us keeping the single wing and keep running, that
helped out a lot."
Journell has been attending games for a long time. But it was not until a couple
years before high school that he truly saw what it meant to be a Spartan.
"I remember coming when I was younger. I would never watch the games but
we'd always play football with a pop bottle or something behind the
bleachers," Journell said. "Seventh or eighth grade was actually the first
year I would actually come and watch the game.
"I couldn't wait. I was playing seventh- and eighth-grade ball. So you
always hope to be in bigger sports and have everybody come watching you, have a
bunch of people at the games and stuff. Growing up, you're always wanting to
be out there with all of your other teammates."
Journell is better for the experience.
"It's obviously shaped me, being a football player," Journell said.
"Having coach Ragsdale and coach Williams and all those guys have taught me
how to be a competitor. They've really molded me a lot, helping me out in my
football career.
"I've loved it. There's nothing better than playing in Giles."
Journell is taking three college-level courses, English, Psychology, and Music
Appreciation. He wants to get a head start when he reports to Virginia Tech next
fall. He was signed as a kicker by none other than Frank Beamer himself.
"Especially getting a scholarship, getting one personally is really a big
deal," Journell said. "Knowing that you're going to go in and have the
head coach of the college football team you're attending is giving you (a
scholarship) is a big plus."
Signing the letter of intent was a no-brainer because of his proximity to the
campus.
"I've lived here all my life, so we've always been Hokie fans," Journell
said. "So going there was kind-of my dream school.
"I was on cloud nine after I got the scholarship and everything. It was a
great experience."
But Virginia Tech is still a long way away. Right now, Journell is focused on
the game against Auburn this Friday night.
"Right now, we're 5-4. So winning Friday night will clinch the winning
season for us," Journell said. "We've only had two teams in the last 30
years that haven't had winning seasons at Giles. So that's a big deal to us
as seniors to be able to go out with that."
Journell's play will be key.
"We're going to rely on him a lot," Williams said. "He's going to run
the ball. He's going to play free safety on defense. He's going to kick. Our
punter got injured a couple weeks ago and he stepped in and did the punting for
us too."
Journell believes that if the Spartans make the playoffs, they can go far.
"The way we've been getting better every week, I think we can go pretty
far," Journell said, "as long as we keep practicing hard and play as hard as
we can on Friday nights."
— Contact Jed Lockett
at jlockett@bdtonline.com
