Jameson Garvin will run through walls for a win. Even Mars football’s head coach is intimidated
Jameson Garvin has played baseball since he was 5 or 6 years old.
In the spring, though, the Mars senior running back/linebacker — an outfielder on the diamond — gets an itch for contact.
Garvin, a 6-foot-1, 215-pound, traditional north-and-south runner on the football field, is OK with trying to pierce a defensive front for 4 yards. Formerly an elusive youth and middle school quarterback, he realized “it's a lot easier to, more or less, just put my head down and run people over,” he said. “When you juke someone out, it's like, 'Alright, they're fine.' After you run someone over, you see them kinda get up a little slow.”
As games go on and tacklers tire, those full-steam-ahead carries might double in yardage. Per MaxPreps, Garvin has carried the ball 53 times for 236 yards and a touchdown through four games. The Planets host non-conference opponent Trinity on Friday.
On the other side of the ball, Garvin leads the Planets (1-3) with 36 total tackles. His 27 solo stops are also tops for Mars, as well as his five tackles for loss. As the season has rolled along, he's seen teams try to block him in different ways, but the freedom he has in his linebacker role — “see ball, get ball,” he said — has simplified things for him.
“I feel like his motor kinda doesn't stop, or he doesn't really run out of juice too much,” first-year Mars head coach Zachary Benedek said. “He's shown that he can hang in there and go for a full game and have that type of contribution on both sides of the ball.”
Benedek has seen Garvin, who had 75 tackles and nine TFLs last year, pour in the effort needed to pull out wins.
“That's what you want out of one of your captains,” Benedek said. “It's really impressive to see him be able to do that in games where we need that, or we need more of a downhill runner to get 4 or 5 yards. And he's that guy that'll go and run into a brick wall if it means that we're gonna get a first down.”
“I love winning, but I hate losing a lot more,” Garvin said. “That's how I've always felt, so I'd do just about anything for my team just to win. I could care less about my stats, my performance. If we win, that means the world to me.”
His demeanor between the lines reflects that. Players holding one another accountable is something Benedek has been trying to preach. Garvin is a shining example.
“I joke with him quite often about sometimes I didn't know how to read him early on,” Benedek said. “We laugh and joke around, and then when he goes out there to play … it is a little bit different. He's locked in, and if something goes wrong, you don't necessarily want to go up (to him). He'll give you a little bit of a stare. He wants everything to work out. He's dedicated.”
“That switch really flips, 0 to 100,” Garvin said. “When I step on the field, that's my livelihood.”
