Only a few years removed from actually playing for the North Sunflower Academy Rebels as a player, 20-year-old Jacob Henley now stands on those same sidelines.
And he is the Head Coach.
And he got his first win last Friday night at Deer Creek.
Henley graduated in 2021 and is a student at Mississippi Delta Community College, studying business. He’s looking to continue his education both on the sidelines and in college.
After graduation, he joined the NSA coaching staff first as a quarterbacks coach and then as assistant defensive coordinator. The former quarterback and middle linebacker played for former NSA Head Coach Ricky Smither and preaches from the same philosophy of his mentor.
“My philosophy is the same that Coach Smither taught me as a player and as an assistant coach and now as a head coach,” Henley said. “It’s all about getting that respect from the kids with them knowing you’ll go to war with them and they’ll go to war with you.”
The 8-man game has “a lot less people on the field so speed comes into play. You have to cover the same amount of field but with fewer people. There are a lot more big plays with eight man than with eleven man and that makes for an exciting game.”
Henley’s career began as a pee wee player before joining the NSA team, but he said he never had any coaching plans until his senior year as a Rebel player.
“Coach Ricky saw something in me and asked me to coach the next year,” he said.
Working as an assistant for two years, Henley got a taste of the coaching life, but as head coach, it’s a whole other story.
“It’s a lot of new stuff I wasn’t used to before. I’ve been figuring it out as we go,” he said. “I talk to (Athletic Director) Coach Todd (Kitchings) a lot and I talk to my assistant coaches from last year a lot. There’s a lot going on behind the scenes that I really didn’t know about as an assistant. Game planning, reaching out to coaches, swapping out film and things like that.”
Henley handles the offense for the Rebels, and his assistant coaches take care of the defense.
“Every day, I draw up 10 to 15 new plays and I just run in my head where it would be effective and where it would hurt us,” he said. “A lot of the plays don’t stick but I add the ones that do.”
He hasn’t come up with trick plays but keeps a reverse or two up his sleeve when needed.
“We have to prove what it takes to compete in this league, week in, week out. The game seems a little faster as a head coach and you have to make sure you’re not missing anything,” he said.
Working his 18-man squad, Henley depends on the communication between his staff to keep moving forward. As a student himself, the new head coach doesn’t know where his career path will take him.
“I’m really undecided but I’d like to stick with these kids and watch them grow and not become better football players, but better people and I want to teach them as much about life as I can,” Henley said.
The Rebels will play in front of the home crowd tonight, seeking their second win against Lee Ark.
