Submitted photo / Robert Senn Studio The 2024 Jackson-Milton football team.

NORTH JACKSON — With playoff appearances in three of the last four years, Jackson-Milton is looking to use the last few seasons as a foundation to build on going forward.

The goal is improvement every day, and so far, improvement has shown each and every day at camp.

“We’ve improved since early June, and our guys are coming along,” Blue Jays coach Nathan Brode said. “They’re working hard, and for the majority of them, they’re coming to practice and are being coached up and being coachable, and we’re happy with the guys that we have.”

Brode is entering his eighth season with the program, sitting at a 33-34 career record in the regular season.

While lacking in depth with numbers sitting under 30, the players the Blue Jays have are solid.

“Every group is unique,” Brode said. “They all have their strengths and weaknesses and their leaders. The leaders are vocal. Their leaders lead by example. We got a mix of everything. We’ve got really good athletes, we’ve got athletes that are super smart. We’ve got athletes that can apply concepts to different situations that maybe we haven’t taught specifically. We don’t have a lot of depth, but the guys that we have, they’re going to be ready to go, and we’re excited for them.”

‘I think we’ve overcome a lot of adversity, we’re going to continue to do that as a coaching staff and get these guys ready to go. We have to. That’s our only option.'”

With that lack of depth, the Blue Jays require a level of “lock-in” that other teams may not need.

It all comes down to being dependable.

“Our guys have to be dependable and reliable. That’s a big thing with me,” Brode said. “And discipline is a big thing with this group. Are they coming to practice? Are they depending on one another to know their assignments, their blocking schemes, their route running? Did they take the ownership to study their plays prior to attending practice? Are they all could see time at offensive line.

“He’s playing really well. We like his upside,” Brode said of Matulek. “He’s a pretty athletic kid, and he can move, so we’re excited about him as a freshman. We’re kind of letting these guys battle it out now, and competition will bring out the best in these guys.”

DEFENSE

Those same offensive linemen will be in the mix at defensive line, as well as Raiden Rossi, who will likely start somewhere on the defense.

Another guy in the mix to play multiple spots is sophomore Nick Bulow, playing his first year of football.

“(Rossi) is converting to the offensive line a little bit and can play some tackle, potentially for us. He’s also playing a little bit of linebacker,” Brode said. “We have a new sophomore in Nick Bulow coming out for football for the first time at Jackson-Milton, and we see a lot of upside in him as well. He’s a tight end, linebacker, defensive line kind of guy, so getting him on the field would be great if he can earn that spot. There’s a couple different names there that may spell some guys on defense.”

At linebacker, Fay is taking the anchor role on defense. Rossi, and Bulow may sub in at linebacker as well.

Osborne, White and Greco will all be in the mix there.

Hines is expected to take one of the starting cornerback jobs with Sipes at the other spot.

McDevitt will line up at safety.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Kicker and punter are still up in the air for Jackson-Milton, but any number of the skill guys could line up to return kicks and punts for the Blue Jays this year.

Jackson-Milton opens the season with Mathews on Aug. 22.

Week 2’s matchup against Newton Falls will be the team’s home-opener at the new facility at the school.

“Our guys are excited about playing in a different location,” Brode said. “I think that’s important a little bit. They’re the first class to play at this location, at their school, and I think they want to make sure they leave it on a positive note. When they’re out, when these seniors graduate, (they want it to be remembered) that they were the first class (to play here) and they had a successful year. I think that’s going to be important for them as well to leave that mark. ‘We were the first ones here, and we had a pretty good season,’ (is the mindset).”