Julius King, Trusted to be a leader equals a double threat

The comparison of Steve McNair, the Tennessee Titans former star quarterback, to Julius King, the starting quarterback for the John Overton Bobcats, may be a bold comparison, but it is arguably a fair comparison if one compares King’s growing ability to read defenses. If King continues to lead the options at his disposal, and he continues to make exciting plays that lead to exciting touchdowns like the 14 TD’s he he has earned to date, the comparison may not be so bold.

McNair, in his prime, made defenses respect his arm and his legs by being able to read what was coming at him and make decisions in a split second, and following the lead of the Offensive Coordinator Jamaal Stewart and Head Coach, Steve Williams, Julius King demonstrates that he can rise to the trust level that has been given to him.

King has stepped into the leadership role with confidence. The Bobcats continue to be plagued with offensive injuries that limit the weapons that would normally be options for King. However, King is averaging 3.6 rushing yards a carry, and these yards are no accident.

“The rushing yards he has accumulated are not generated because he has had to scramble out of a play in desperation. It is more like we are trusting him to read the defense, and decide which option, pass or run, is the best choice for him to call on that down,” explained Coach Chris Crawford recently. “The leadership we’ve entrusted to him is a good thing because Julius is smart, and he has really used his leadership skills to change the culture of the offense altogether”.

King, indeed, has been an integral player in changing the culture of “grind it out and run it only” offense that Overton may have been known for in years past to an offense that is as diverse as the school’s population. “We’ve moved from my freshman year where we ran an I-Formation style offense when we ran first and threw only when we needed to do so. Now, with Coach Williams and Coach Stewart’s offense, we throw when we want to, run when we want to,” King explained in his recent interview. However, he was quick to point out that the offense of his senior year would not be possible without the offensive line and “weapons” he calls the running backs and receivers.

In his 7 game totals, King has been his own threat to defenses though, regardless of the win/loss column, as he continues to post strong numbers in both the passing and rushing columns.

King has a 50% completion rate, completing 50 of the 100 passes he has thrown in the last 7 games for a total of 780 yards and 12 TD’s. King has rushed 109 yards in 42 carries and 2 touchdown runs giving him a total of 889 all purpose yards.

Coach Jamaal Stewart explained King has a maturity and willingness to be a “member of the offense instead of being the ‘person who runs’ the offense and this has changed the culture of the entire offensive line….From our quarterback leadership to the offensive line, from film study to conditioning, this Bobcat team is really pulling together to build a real family chemistry.”

The Bobcat Beat has followed King throughout several practices and games to get the best understanding of what it is like to be the leader of a large team, with the trust of so many adults. The conclusion is, there is much more to being the “play caller under center” than many who are watching understand.

When asked about the stress of being the play caller, like any great leader, King did not place the blame of losses on someone else. “When we are winning, everything is great, I am making great decisions. But when we are losing…..well, I just have to make better decisions. But I have to make the decisions. I can’t wait for someone else to do it for me. I guess learning how to do that is a good thing.”

Julius King is a Health Sciences Academy student, and is focusing on sports medicine as a possible career. As a Health Sciences student at Overton, King is aware of talking care of his body like one cares for a tool. We spoke to him about how one does this daily.
BB: Many of our games have been really hot, and then the last two have had rain. When it is really hot, how to your stay focused and hold on to the football, and then how is that different when you are playing in the rain and your muscles get cold. Tell us about your conditioning routine and how well you’ve played in these different conditions?

JK: Coach Williams has stepped up our conditioning routine since the beginning of last year and our coaches preach and preach and harp on us in practice about how important it is to keep hydrated, to take care of ourselves, to eat right. They’ve taught us we have to do the things if we want to win.

Q: What goes through your head when there is a turnover? How do you prepare yourself for those moments?

A: It comes down to practice. It’s just practice, if we commit a penalty or a turnover, then we have to we help each other up, but you can’t do this just on game night, you have to practice helping each other in practice too. We have great team chemistry, we practice and practice and practice. That’s how you prevent turnovers.

Recently, we had a great few days of practice, we watched the film, scouted the team we are going to play, my line blocked great, all my rushing yards and passing yards couldn’t do it without the line. That’s where it starts.

BB: So how do you know, like REALLY KNOW that it is all coming together as a team?

JK: When you know everyone has joined together and has bought in (to the Coach). Everybody has just joined together. We play more like a team. Not one person is trying to get the spotlight. If they don’t get the ball of if somebody makes a bad play, so what!

BB: How important is leadership on the sidelines?

JK: It’s about knowing your players. I mean Marco is a junior and he hasn’t seen a lot of playing time as a running back. He is kind of new, but it’s our job as seniors to make sure he doesn’t feel “new or nervous”. I just let him know it’s ok and we got your back and we go down and score again but if it’s like Kimlee or something I just let him do what he does. You have to know each individual.

A few questions we ask nearly everyone:

BB: What is heard on your headphones?

JK: Hip hop / rap artists like Drake

What movie would you recommend?

JK: “42”

BB: Name a word that you love.

JK: Winning

BB: Name a word that you hate.

JK: Quitting

BB: Lastly, Julius, is there a favorite verse or quote that you live by?

JK: Psalms 27:1 “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”

Upcoming games:
Thursday Oct. 15th at Ravenwood
Friday Oct. 23 at Overton against Lebenon
Friday Oct. 30 at Overton against Wilson Central