CENTERTON -- Even before Bentonville West arrived on Northwest Arkansas' football scene, Will Jarrett and Jadon Jackson had been integral parts of coach Bryan Pratt's offensive scheme.
Those two players have been a trusted one-two punch in the Wolverines' air attack during that time, but a lack of a strong running game was evident in West's inaugural season as Jarrett eventually became the team's leading rusher as well as leading passer. Tyrese Smallwood then arrived on the scene last season, and he helped the Wolverines win their first nine games even though his knowledge of the team was limited.
The three are back this fall for one more season -- one that will be played in a stadium West can call its own.
"It's huge now," Jarrett said. "With Tyrese coming in last year to add just a really good running game to our offense, it balances everything out more. It's good to know if Jadon or one of the other receivers isn't there and the passing game isn't working, we have 'Rese right there to make big play after big play."
The air between them
The Jarrett-Jackson bond formed when they became teammates on the final Bentonville Gold ninth-grade football team shortly after Jackson moved to the area from Pennsylvania. Those two players, with Pratt as their head coach, helped Gold win its first nine games that season.
"We just instantly linked as we went to a team camp that summer," Jackson said. "I messed up a little bit my freshman year. I couldn't catch the ball that good, then I started practicing with him. The rest is history."
Their history over the next three years, barring injury this fall, will leave a legacy and a tough act for future West players to follow. Jarrett, who has drawn attention from Missouri State, Northern Illinois and a number of NCAA Division II schools, has started 21 of the Wolverines' 22 games at quarterback and enters his senior season with high school career totals of 331 of 509 passing for 5,397 yards and 56 touchdowns.
Jackson, on the other hand, has become a two-time all-state player who has 120 receptions for 2,155 yards and 23 touchdowns over the last two seasons and drawn 14 scholarship offers from NCAA Division I schools. He recently trimmed his choices down to Arkansas, Auburn, Ole Miss, Missouri and Oklahoma State, although he said his recruitment remains open for the time being.
"Somebody is going to get a steal with Will Jarrett," Pratt said. "I almost laughed when he was asked about the pressure he has on him. Will Jarrett is probably one of the few kids I've coached in 23 years that is Will Jarrett. You get the same thing, whether we're up by 20, down by 20 or in a tie game. He has ice water in his veins. He doesn't feel pressure."
"It's taken us a little while to get Jadon in the mode he needs to be. To see where he came from and where he is now is pretty phenomenal. He's a special player. I can remember when we were in the process of getting him right, I made a comment to him when he was a freshman. I said 'if you believe in what we do, give us effort and buy into what we do, you'll be a household name in Northwest Arkansas."
Learning on the run
Smallwood arrived from Pennsylvania last July and had about a month to learn the new offensive scheme at West. That was enough time for him to earn the starting position, then he finished the season with 784 yards and 10 touchdowns on 123 carries.
"It was different with the no-huddle offense, learning all the signals and learning all the plays," Smallwood said. "It was the little things, and there was also the weight room. During my freshman and sophomore years, I never lifted weights. I just did push-ups and stuff like that because my dad made me. So it was a big difference for me.
"On my first day here, though, they made me feel like family. Nobody just pushed me to the side. They counted me right in."
One of the biggest lessons Smallwood learned came without him making a single play in a game. Pratt didn't like how Smallwood was performing and wanted to teach him a lesson, so he made Smallwood sit on the sidelines the 7A-West Conference opener against Van Buren.
Pratt did get his point across as Smallwood saw limited action the following week against Fayetteville, but he came back and had at least 100 yards rushing in four of the next six games. That included the game against Bentonville, where he had more than 100 yards rushing and receiving and scored twice.
"He had some things to work out, and I sat him," Pratt said. "If he made a 20-yard run, he would act like he couldn't breathe or he was tired. In our style of offense, you have to be able to go. We wanted him to be able to run harder and be more physical. He wasn't very happy about it, and I wasn't happy about it either.
"He's definitely the ideal back for our type of offense. He's a smaller, shorter, scatback-type of back that you can put out in routes. That makes things a whole lot better for us. He's also the type of guy that a defender can make one wrong angle, and he will take it to the house."
Preps Basketball on 08/23/2018