Here's how a seemingly routine pass in practice changed everything for J.L. Mann football
Four years ago, Ethan Anderson was a J.L. Mann freshman soccer player who thought he’d try out for wide receiver.
During one of the first preseason football practices, Anderson picked up a ball and threw a 40-yard spiral back to a precise spot where the offense was huddling. Everybody stopped and stared.
“It was the prettiest ball I had ever seen,” wide receiver Mikel McClellan said.
That seemingly meaningless pass changed the trajectory for Anderson, McClellan and a J.L. Mann team (8-2) that will play visiting Blythewood (4-6) at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the opening round of the Class AAAAA high school football playoffs.
Toby Cates, a former wide receiver at South Carolina, was the offensive coordinator at J.L. Mann. Cates called an audible on the spot.
Anderson was now a quarterback.
“Ethan didn’t want to be a quarterback. He wanted to be a wide receiver,” J.L. Mann coach Scoot Watson said. “But he didn’t really have a choice.
"Cates said, ‘You’re going to play quarterback.’ Ethan said, ‘No, I don’t want to.’ Cates said, ‘Yeah, you are.’ And that was that.”
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At that point, the Patriots were trying to make McClellan the starting quarterback for the junior varsity team.
“Yeah, that wasn’t going as planned. It was not good,” McClellan said. “Ever since that day, he’s been a quarterback. Basically, we switched positions.”
Anderson this season has thrown for 2,570 yards — the third-best total in the state — with 33 touchdowns and only five interceptions.
“I’ve matured a lot,” he said. “I’d say I’ve matured physically and mentally. I have more and more confidence with each game that’s played.”
J.L. Mann last week broke a nine-game losing streak against Hillcrest to earn a home playoff game and give the Patriots what seems their best chance in the postseason since reaching the Upper State finals in 2001. Watson, who is in his fourth season, took over a team that hadn’t made the playoffs in eight years.
Anderson passed for 346 yards and four touchdowns against Hillcrest.
“Huge confidence-booster,” he said. “That’s kind of what we were looking for going into the playoffs. It was huge . . . . I would say that’s the highlight of my career so far. It definitely stands out the most. That was the kind of signature win that should show everybody where we’re at and what we’re about.”
Despite his stats and his stature (6-foot-2 and 185 pounds), Anderson did not make the Shrine Bowl or the North-South game. He doesn’t have any college scholarship offers and only mild interest from smaller schools.
“We don’t understand why he’s not more highly recruited,” Watson said. “He’s top-notch. In terms of ability, there’s not much he can’t do. He can absorb a lot of information. He has a high football IQ. He’s a great leader. He has a lot of poise. He’s not only one of the best quarterbacks in the area but one of the best quarterbacks in the state . . . He’s a guy who could walk on at a place like Clemson and earn a scholarship.”
“This might be just because he’s my quarterback, but I believe he’s one of the best in the state,” McClellan said. “He’s also the No. 10 student as far as grade-point average in our school. So, he’s really smart. Right now, he just wants to go to college to be a student. He’s playing football just for fun.”
Anderson suffered a collarbone injury in that junior varsity season, and as the starter for varsity as a sophomore, he suffered a season-ending knee injury in the first game.
“He could have called it quits,” McClellan said. “I mean, he’d never played football before. If it was me, I probably wouldn’t have been done. For him to come back and fight through everything shows a lot about him."
McClellan said he sometimes thinks about what might have happened if Anderson, that day in JV preseason, had thrown a wobbly wounded duck back to the huddle.
“Maybe he would be a kicker or punter on varsity,” McClellan said. “And I'd still be a horrible quarterback.”
This article originally appeared on Herald-Journal: SC high school football: How one pass changed everything for J.L. Mann
