The Harlem Bulldogs football team is off to a 3-0 start, and a large part of that is because of Jayden Futrell and the impact the athlete has had on Harlem’s games.
He plays both offense and defense as their starting wide receiver and starting cornerback, covering the opposing team’s best receiver every week. He has arguably the hardest job on the field every week, and it comes naturally to him. He also is the starting kick returner, so a jack of all trades, for coach Mark Boiter and his staff.
The measurables
Futrell sizes up as good as anyone in the area. He stands at 6-foot-3-inches, and if you follow the game much, you know that you won’t find many cornerbacks with those attributes. He’s got the kind of unique size and speed that doesn’t come around often.
A knack for the ball
Against Baldwin, it was easy to see that that he knew where the ball was going before it was ever thrown, something you can’t teach. He proved so, intercepting two passes and making the biggest play of the game. That came on Baldwin’s final drive where he read the corner route and met the receiver when the ball hit his hands and forced the incompletion, thus leading to a Bulldog win just a play later. Those are the types of plays he lives for.
The ‘it’ factor
We’ve likely all heard the phrase regarding sports, “you either have it or you don’t.” You can’t really explain it or put it into words, but you just know if someone has it. Well, watching Futrell play the one time that I have, you could tell. Those kinds of players step forward in the big time moments.
All that aside, there is only one thing on Futrell’s mind every time he takes the field, win.
“I am really just trying to win at the end of the day,” he said. “They come out targeting me, trying to hurt me, but I don’t care, I just want to win for the team.”
That’s how you lead a team, with the attitude mentioned above, and more importantly, that’s how you win football games.
If you have a team full of guys that care more about the name on the front of their jersey than the one on the back, you’ll always be successful.
Coach Boiter knows what kind of player he has in the junior and how big of an asset he is to this team. I spoke with him following the Baldwin game Friday about Futrell’s performance, not only in that one game, but throughout the still-young season.
“He’s a special football player, he plays both sides for us and plays great, also plays on the special teams,” Boiter said. “He does things that you don’t see wide receivers do, like he had a pancake block. That just doesn’t happen. On top of the interceptions, he made several tackles for us, but hats off to him he played well and always does.”
As Futrell plays the rest of his junior season and goes into his senior year, there is no doubt that there will be a recruiting buzz around his name, and he’ll get the recognition that he deserves.
