Predators' Owens signs with Flying Fleet
Feb. 10—The dream lives on for JK Owens.
The Fox Creek multi-sport — and that's an understatement — athlete could remember being a freshman and watching his senior teammates sign with colleges, and he dreamed that one day it would be him at that table.
So he went to work toward making that a reality. Just when it looked like it might not come true, a door opened near the end of January. He walked through that door Friday, signing his letter of intent to play football at Erskine College.
"For a while we were just kind of thinking maybe we should just give up this football thing, but then Erskine reached out to me one day," he said. "They were like, 'Hey, come on down for a visit.' We went down there, and it was awesome. We loved everything. The coaches were super nice. They were like, 'We want to offer you. We want you to play here.'"
Owens made the move from wide receiver to quarterback this past season out of necessity for the Predators, earning All-Region 3-AA and Fox Creek Offensive Player of the Year honors along the way.
"He's a quality athlete that came in last year and got a lot of minutes on offense playing a different position," said Fox Creek head coach Lemuel Lackey. "Just to step in at quarterback and having to learn and so much and do an awful lot of things, that was great for us because he had experience. More importantly, he's a smart kid and I think that bodes well for him being able to move forward into the college ranks. He's extremely talented. Sometimes he doesn't know how talented he is. He'll be fine at the next level."
At Erskine the plan is to play wide receiver, but Owens said he's more than fine stepping in and contributing at quarterback if that's where he's needed. An honor roll student — he boasts a 4.705 GPA — and also a member of the basketball and lacrosse teams, he possesses a combination of intelligence and athletic ability Lackey said will serve him well as he takes this next step.
"He has a high-level skillset. He can do a lot of things," Lackey said. "Obviously, he played a lot of different sports. You can tell by the way the kids showed up to support him from all different facets here at the school, so that was great. We're going to miss him. Just being able to find that guy that can do a lot and represent a lot and take a lot on his shoulders, that's unique."
Owens intends to major in health science in hopes of becoming a physical therapist after graduation, and he said Erskine's reputation of being strong in that department was a big draw.
After signing Owens stayed at the table and posed for the customary photos with family and coaches, then stayed put as groups of teammates from different sports cycled in and out to join him. He said his involvement in so many different things and the atmosphere at the school were his favorite parts of his time at the school.
"Definitely the community, man," he said. "Meeting all your friends here. Then when you go play a game, you look up in the crowd and it's just all of them chanting your name. They want to talk to you after the game and stuff like that. The community here at Fox Creek has been just amazing these past four years, and especially my senior year."
