Plus 11 more make all-area offense
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Suwannee receiver Jay Smith is the LCR’s Offensive Player of the Year. (TAMMY JOHNS/Special to the Reporter)
LIVE OAK — Entering the season without a proven playmaker out wide, Suwannee was looking for somebody to be “the guy.”
Senior Jay Smith did more than that, putting together one of the best seasons by a wide receiver in school history.
Becoming just the third 1,000-yard receiver in program history — and the first in more than two decades — Smith helped lead the Bulldogs to a district title and a regional final appearance.
After hauling in 53 passes for 1,039 yards and 13 touchdowns, Smith has also now snagged the honor of the Lake City Reporter’s Offensive Player of the Year.
“Most times you’re going to have one guy at receiver that is ‘the guy,’” Suwannee head coach Kyler Hall said. “Consistently, he played like that. I thought pretty much every game he was one of the best, if not the best, players on the field and that’s on both sides of the ball.”
Smith’s breakout campaign offensively — the 1,039 yards trails only Matt Frier’s 1,716 in 1988 and David Lee’s 1,142 in 1995 — came after limited production on that side the previous two years. Smith’s 13 receiving touchdowns were also the third most in a season in SHS history, behind just Frier while he had the seventh-most catches a Bulldog ever hauled in during a season.
As a sophomore, Smith finished with seven catches for 94 yards and two touchdowns in limited time while excelling defensively. Battling injuries, Smith was held to nine catches, 180 yards and one touchdown last year.
Still, Hall and Suwannee offensive coordinator Josh Jacobson said they knew what they had in Smith if they could just get the ball in his hands.
Jacobson, who returned to Suwannee’s staff in the spring, said it didn’t take long to see Smith’s potential on offense.
“It was very early, right when I started showing up that I said, ‘This guy has got to get the ball,’” Jacobson said.
Still, nobody saw what Smith was able to do coming.
Not even the 5-foot-10, 160-pound Smith.
“I wanted to do better than what I did last year,” Smith said about his goals entering the season.
It didn’t take long for Smith to accomplish that goal.
In the Bulldogs’ opener, he hauled in 10 passes and then showed a glimpse of what was to come when he took a slant on the first snap against Hamilton County 56 yards for a touchdown.
Making big plays early became the norm for Smith, who also scored on a deep ball down the sideline one play after Suwannee forced a turnover in the first quarter against rival Madison County, who the Bulldogs hadn’t beaten since 1995.
At Wakulla, Smith answered a War Eagle touchdown on the game’s first play with a 70-yard catch and run to set up Suwannee’s first score.
And he did it all while playing nearly every snap defensively for Suwannee, finishing third on the team with 91 tackles, and also producing 356 yards on kickoff and punt returns to set Suwannee’s offense up for scores.
“He was a big shock to our offensive system early in the games which got us going too,” Hall said. “That was big for us.”
That offensive jolt sometimes even came without Smith touching the ball, serving as a decoy and taking pressure off of Suwannee’s other playmakers.
“He wanted to be in that moment,” Hall said. “He wanted to be the guy that made the play, to make the catch. A lot of guys don’t want that. They want to be a good receiver and they want to be a good player but in those clutch moments, when there needs to be a play, Jay wanted to be that guy.”
To Smith, it was all just a matter of trying to make a play for his teammates.
“Just getting open for Bronsen (Tillotson) and helping my team out any way I can,” he said.
He did that with those game-altering scores early in games as well as big catches to extend drives or even game-winning and season-saving catches late.
It also didn’t really require getting open. If the defense played Smith 1-on-1 without safety help, the Bulldogs were likely to take a shot and take advantage of what Smith said are his two best attributes: his speed and ball tracking.
Hall said there wasn’t a game that he thought the other team had a defensive back that could shut Smith down.
His speed, combined with a good understanding of Suwannee’s offense and the leverage defenders were playing with, allowed Smith the ability to consistently get open regardless of the defensive scheme.
Even in the most crucial of times.
After Smith and the rest of the Suwannee passing attack thrived against Walton’s man coverage to open the playoffs, the Bulldogs were struggling to capitalize on a multitude of opportunities in a regional semifinal against West Florida.
However with 10 minutes left in the game and Suwannee down 14-10, Smith again was right where the Bulldogs needed him.
“We just needed someone to step up and make a play,” Hall said. “And the way that one played out, the ball being on the ground, Bronsen not feeling well but was cool and calm and picks it up and then, out of all the people, Jay is standing down there wide open by himself.”
And now Smith is standing along some of the best Bulldogs to ever play at Langford Stadium with his name next to the likes of Frier, Lee, Ralph Lott and Matt Jackson in the SHS record book.
Another goal accomplished for Smith.
“Try to go out with a bang my senior year,” he said.
Hall added: “It was fun to watch. He had a heck of a year.
“He left his mark for sure.”
ALL-AREA OFFENSE
QB: Bronsen Tillotson
Suwannee, senior
Led the area with 2,071 passing yards and threw an area-high 21 touchdowns. He also rushed for 118 yards and four more scores.
RB: Marquavious Owens
Suwannee, junior
Led the area with 1,535 all-purpose yards, which included an area-high 1,187 rushing yards (5.1 per carry) and seven rushing touchdowns. He also caught 18 passes for 241 yards and a score, and had five 100-yard rushing games on the year.
RB: Caden Coker
Branford, senior
Led the area with 15 rushing touchdowns, which accounted for more than a third of the Buccaneers’ scores to help them return to the playoffs. He rushed for 1,031 yards (6.9 per carry) and had six 100-plus yard games, while also catching eight passes for 71 yards. As a linebacker on defense he had 47 tackles, forced a fumble and returned a fumble for a TD.
RB: Kiami McKnight
Lafayette, senior
Rushed for 941 yards (6.1 per carry), had four 100-yard games, and scored 13 touchdowns to help the Hornets finish with a 10-3 record which included a run to the regional finals.
RB/WR: Najeeb Smith
Fort White, junior
The go-to man for the Indians rushed for 1,034 yards (8.1 per carry), had four 100-yard rushing games, and scored nine touchdowns to help them reach the playoffs again. He was also their top receiver, catching 18 passes for 377 yards and two scores. On defense, he had 34 tackles and an interception.
WR: Jay Smith
Suwannee, senior
The LCR’s Offensive Player of the Year caught area-best 53 passes for an area-high 1,039 yards with 13 touchdown receptions to lead the Bulldogs to a 10-3 record, a district title and their first regional final since 2015. He finished the season with 1,459 all-purpose yards and made a name for himself defensively as well, recording 91 tackles with an interception as a defensive back.
OL: Taylon Johns
Suwannee, senior
The Bulldogs’ top offensive lineman blocked for an offense that finished with over 3,600 yards and scored 34 touchdowns.
OL: Jaylen Brown
Fort White, senior
The Indians’ top offensive lineman blocked for an offense that finished with over 3,400 yards and scored 29 touchdowns.
OL: Fred Harrell
Columbia, senior
The Tigers’ top offensive lineman blocked for an offense that had over 3,400 yards and scored 35 touchdowns.
OL: Manny Watkins
Lafayette, senior
The Hornets’ top offensive lineman blocked for an offense that finished with over 3,600 yards and scored 48 touchdowns. Also contributed on the defensive line with 49 tackles and three sacks.
OL: John Coker
Branford, senior
The Buccaneers’ top offensive lineman blocked for an offense that finished with over 2,700 yards and scored 40 touchdowns. Also contributed on the defensive line with 34 tackles.
K/P: Braxtyn Green
Suwannee, senior
Connected on 31 of his 33 extra points and made 12 field goals with a long of 53 yards. Thirty-eight of his 63 kickoffs were touchbacks and he pinned 17 punts inside the 20-yard line.
Demetric Jackson
Coach of the Year, Columbia
Jackson got the Tigers out of an 0-2 hole to start the season and they won six of their last seven games in the regular season to win the District 3-3S title. From there, Columbia went on to win the Region 1-3S championship for their first berth in the state semifinals since 2015. A big part of that was a stellar defense, which forced 37 turnovers, scored eight touchdowns, and had 40 sacks. It took a 29-6 win over Lincoln and then a 17-15 win over Escambia to earn a matchup with Choctawhatchee in the regional finals, which CHS won 20-14 in overtime. The Tigers fell to eventual state champion Lake Wales in the state semis for their first loss since September to finish 9-4, but the season went down as one of the best in program history.