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Lake Region senior playmaker and quarterback Jayden McCutchen never quits.On the first play of the Week 1 high school football game against Winter Haven on Friday night, he returned an 87-yard kickoff return touchdown on the game’s first play. While it didn’t lead to a win — Lake Region went down 44-28 — it set the tone early. In that game he kept on battling in a contest in which his team was down for most of the game — Lake Region did go up 22-21 midway through the fourth after a McCutchen rollout completed pass for a two-point conversion — eventually going 19-for-36 for 189 yards and racking up 141 yards on 18 carries and two touchdowns.
Athletically, McCutchen looked like the best player on the field.
For McCutchen, whose cousin is Lakeland legend and former big leaguer Andrew McCutchen, it all starts with the mentality.“I’m going to bounce back,” McCutchen said. “It feels amazing to contribute to the team. I feel like I bring a lot of energy, not just to the team but to the whole city when I perform well.”
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This is the type of motivation he uses to stay in the game, as there was a point when McCutchen thought about giving up football the end of his junior year. The reasoning? He wasn't really recruited primarily as a quarterback.
As his senior season came around, his coaching staff put him in more of an athlete’s role; including running back kicks and running the football — the ultimate playmaker.McCutchen has been a playmaker from very young age. He grew up playing football and that passion for the game kept ballooning. As he made unbelievable plays on the field, folks in the stands also took note, and everybody always told him he’d be great at this game.
Still, he never really took the game serious and didn’t know what folks meant until this year despite winning the starting quarterback job last year as a junior and this year because he’s simply better than every other QB in competition thanks to being more agile, having better accuracy, and knowing how to run the offense.
“I think it was more of a gift where I got my skills from being the player I am," McCutchen said.
It was also because of the Fort Meade native was consistently developing under QB trainer Stephen Garcia, who is a former South Carolina quarterback who had a 20-14 record before going on to play in the Arena Football League.And it was Garcia who helped him augment his skill set into running the ball, making big plays when needed, leading his teammates, especially during a big game. When his high school career is done, his goal is to play Division I football and in the NFL. Right now, a couple colleges are on his radar, mainly JUCO schools.
“I’m extremely impressed with Jayden’s maturity thus far,” Lake Region head football coach Jermain King said. “Jayden has always been a kid that carries himself above and beyond his peers. Coaching him has been fun.”
Lake Region will take on Fort Meade 7:30 p.m. Friday on the road.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: How Lake region football's Jayden McCutchen became versatile playmaker
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