Latest / Huddle Up! / Huddle Up! Season 1, Episode 7
Transcript
- Paul Durham: Hello, this is Paul Durham. Welcome back to Huddle Up, the Wilson Times Sports Podcast. Episode seven. I am on site at Hunt High School. The Warriors were supposed to have played a makeup game or the completion of a suspended game against Martin County today, but rain intervened again and they're going to postpone that to Monday. I'm sitting here with Coach Head Coach Juan Jackson. Coach, is this a blessing or a curse to not get this game in today? Both. you know. We can't control the weather. That's beyond our control. But however we can get some guys healed that have bumps and bruises and just, you know, move on move forward from this. so, you know, we we just gonna walk through repetition and get our guys mentally ready for play ready to play. And the next game is Southern Wayne on Friday. That's a conference game. We gotta get through that. Then you go back and play Martin County over here on Monday, complete that game. Then you get a week off. So it kind of worked out a little bit better for you guys. How important was it for you to get this game in? Because you guys both are very high RPI. Y'all are four in 5- A, and they are number five in 3- A. very important, you know, in regards to the RPI. we both need this game. We don't need a no contest, nor do we need less than ten games on our schedule. So it worked out in in both teams' favor that we're gonna be able to get the ball game in. All right, Coach, how do you feel about the team play right now? came off a big win at CB Aycock Saturday night, thirty-seven to six. You scored all your points in the first half. I know y y there's obviously some areas of improvement that you can work on, but right now four games into this season and and compare it to last year when you guys went to the state five A championship game. we're extremely ex pleased as a staff, because our young guys are stepping up and filling the void in positions that we lost to graduation and guys in the off season. So You know, those young guys stepping up and you know, filling the void and making things happen is is helping us establish depth R and our gun hasn't been fully loaded. We've had guys injured all four weeks. And so once our gun is fully loaded, we're gonna be something to reckon with. Let's talk about your gun slinger. This young man I'm gonna talk to in just a few minutes, senior quarterback Mez Harris, he has made a big difference for Hunt high football, obviously. He can pass as he did the other night, two hundred and six yards, he can throw. He had a bunch of third down runs for first down, third and long. It's like, okay, flip that switch, you get the first down. What's it been like? What's his development been like this year compared to last? a lot of maturity. he worked on his skill asset in the in the in the spring in the off season, ran track, got faster. So, you know, he's a dual threat. And he's a a versatile athlete. He can play Defensive back, kick returner, quarterback, receiver, wherever you want him to play. So he's just trying to showcase his talents for all the coaches. All right, I am back here at Hunt High School with Hunt High senior dazzling quarterback Xzayvion Mez Harris, who is in the middle of his senior year, had a great game Saturday night in Hunt's 37 to 6 win at C.B. Aycock 8 to 12 passing, 206 yards, three touchdowns, picked up another 79 yards on the ground. most of those are on third and long, but he got a first down, and just got to ask you, Mez How would you rate your performance on your personal scale one to tens from Saturday night? I work my performance eight out of ten. I feel like I did pretty good that day. Have a good completion percentage, throw my board the ball, getting it to everybody on the field and using my legs. what didn't you like about you? You said eight. I thought you played ten out of ten, to be honest with you. I made a f couple mistakes in the beginning of game. I threw an interception and then made a few bad reads. Well, I will say that was an incredible play on that interception by the Aycock defensive back. And you know, it was right on the money because it's six points if he doesn't make the pick. I gotta ask you, that play at the end of the first half, that's the one that I'm gonna remember. Nine seconds. They tried to run out the clock. You guys got the ball back at your own thirty-nine. Somehow you scrambled, bought some time, your guys were covered, made a play, found your favorite guy, Carlos McCray for a touchdown. And end of the half and that was it, man. That was the the final blow. Tell me a little bit about that play. Was it a design scramble? No, it wasn't the design scramble. I t I told Coach Avery before before we got the ball back that we need that we should take a shot to score before halftime. So we s I snapped the ball. I was gonna throw it to the left, but it was covered to the left then, so I went to the right. And that was covered there too, but I threw the ball to my boy Carlos. I I trust him a lot so I know that he'll make a play. I threw it to him and he just did what he had to do to score. Well, he really did. He turned that into a big sixty one yard touchdown play. Have you been sacked at all this year? Maybe a few times, yes, sir. A few times. why you definitely bought plenty of time on that play. Well, tell me, this is the team last year's team went to the state five A championship game. You're almost halfway through this season, four and What can you say is different about this year's group from last year's? We have more chemistry. We had this whole summer to practice together, get to know each other more, all the practices and stuff, getting as the work at the practice and stuff, yeah, we got more chemistry. Well, most of you guys are back, but you've also got a lot of new young guys. It's like y'all have stayed young somehow. Well let me ask you this. you're going into the season, your offense I don't think is quite where it is right now. And a big reason that is junior running back DoRyan Jones has not played. He had eighteen hundred yards, I think, or more last year. What do you think that impact's gonna be? Because you've got Xzavier Dublin's doing a pretty good job. Now you're gonna add DoRyan maybe this week, next week, or whenever he comes back. How do you feel that impact is is gonna affect Hunt? It's gonna affect us a lot. It's gonna help us out. But me and D baby — me and DoRyan in the backfield is pretty unstoppable. Can nobody stop us? D baby, that's his nickname, right? Yes, sir. Well tell this now. Your receivers, you lost your top four receivers in terms of yardage last year. Yes, sir. You're starting to Find some guys this year. I mentioned Carlos McCray, you you've hooked up with him, had a big touchdown pass with him at South Garner. How do you feel about this group now? I feel pretty good about We're staying after practice, getting extra work in, getting the timing down, getting my boys the ball, letting them do what they do. Yeah. Everything's starting to work out. Well, you know, sometimes these things just take time. Now I've got to ask you about the defense. Hunt's always been known for defense from the ZBBO Express to the Mojo. You guys have lost some defensive starters, but you really have not dropped off. You've played really lights out defense. You're a big part of that as well. You're a defensive starter. How do you feel about your defense so far? I feel pretty good about our defense. I haven't played defense since the Lee County game. No, the South Garner game. I haven't played defense then, but well without me up there, I know they're still can get the job done. Stop the all stop the other team for scoring and stuff that. I feel like when you're needed on defense, you're gonna be out there, right? Yes sir. Maybe not some of the the bigger games. All right. So you are right now in headed into conference. Well you're in conference play. That was the first conference game and you got another one against Southern Wayne on Saturday night. I mean Friday night. tell me this. What do you feel about this conference based on what you know about it so far? 'Cause it might seem to be a little bit tougher top to bottom. I mean Southern Wayne's won three games already this year. Yes sir. Well Fike wanna beat us. Since last year we went to this five A State Championship. Everybody wanna be us, so everybody just wanna beat Hunt. So I know it's gonna be like not gonna be easy playing against these teams. Well, we can talk about this game as we get closer to it, but obviously the Fike game's looming as a big one. But you guys have a lot of games left. Obviously. You got Northern Nash, Southern Nash, right well. Yeah, you gotta play Rocky Mount too. So How's it is it tough to not get excited thinking because Fike's off to a pretty good start too, 5-0. Yeah, they're they our rivalry. So I know that game is gonna be a good game. A very good game. And it won't be easy. So we both we had to play our hardest Well, you're right. You can be patient for it. It's gonna be a while. Well tell me this. I see you picked up a few offers, college offers so far. Who's interested in you? Who's made an offer? Who's still out there? You've you've probably got a lot more to come your way. Campbell offered me last week. And then later on that day, Elizabeth City offered me two. All right. So you got two in one day. Yes, sir. Well, you'll probably have a full mailbox from now on. Well, listen, we hope to catch up with you a little later in the season, and maybe as we get down to the nitty-gritty as we go into the week and into the playoffs. But thank you so much for coming here today, Miz. And I hopefully I'll talk to you again soon. Yes, sir.