East St. John enters Year 4 under coach Brown

Published 12:30 pm Sunday, August 29, 2021

RESERVE — East St. John is not a senior heavy team this year, but The “E” enters the year after reaching the quarterfinals in 2020, following a 5-1 regular season.

  “This is a very unique team we have this year,” East St. John coach Brandon Brown said. “We’re not senior heavy, but we have great guys, and I think that’s the beauty of being here and in year four — that buy in. You talk about a typical 5A school and you’re talking about 25 to 30 seniors. We have about 14 seniors, same as last year. This is year four. They know the expectations.”

  Brown said they have a whole lot coming back on offense.

  George Smith takes over at quarterback with a transition from defensive back.

  “He’s been around for four years, so the position change is nothing to him,” Brown said. “We have a standard and it’s a standard of excellence. He’s going to lead us into the season at quarterback.”

  The offensive unit returns four linemen in center – Dontae King, left tackle Jamyrion Irvin, left guard Michael Greene and right guard Gaylon Fobb.

  “We’re very excited about the guys up front,” Brown said. “It’s going to help us in the running game and the passing game.”

The running back is Cortez Fisher. He ran for more than 1,000 yards last year. He was a first-team all-district player and an all-state honorable mention player.

  Kylon Harris is the team’s top wide receiver. Last year’s quarterback threw 14 touchdowns with 13 going to Harris. 

  Brown said that Harris’ nickname is ‘Wildcat.’ According to Brown, Harris will line up at wide receiver and in the backfield. He added that Harris is “one of those great kids” who has been in the program for four years. Harris, a multi-sport athlete, is also the starting point guard in basketball and starting center fielder in baseball.

  Wide receiver Christopher Cureau is another player who has been around the program.

  Juniors Devin Davis and Kaden Henderson are also receivers.

Moving to defense, Brown said they lost players like Welland Williams and Jackie Marshall, but said guys around them have done a tremendous job for the team since day one.

  East St. John loses two linemen, but brings back experienced players on the line in two-year starters Jacorey Robertson and Durell Diagre. Both players are tackles.

  Brown said they have a good group of linebackers, who are all juniors.

  The inside guys are Freddy Jones and Elijah Frank, with Jaheim Gant on the outside.

  Brown said those guys have either started or have had a lot of playing time.

  Continuing with the defense, Smith will also play in the secondary.

  Brown said free safety Mekhi Brumfield will be one to watch.

  East St. John begins the season with a home game against John Ehret.

BY CHRIS KINKAID

THE DAILY NEWS

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