The first thing to know about Jefferson R-7 quarterback Logan Young’s last eight quarters is that they were spectacular. The Blue Jays’ freshman Iron Man rivaled his older teammate Oliver Klump’s night against St. Vincent in JHS’s triumphant QCC championship clash, picking off St. Vincent quarterback Hunter Mattingly three times to spark the victory.
It has to be one of the top freshman performances of the decade in JeffCo, standing up against Caleb Barton’s enrollment year, Cole Rickermann’s first go-arounds, and the 2022 Crystal City Hornets special teams. Young was already poised to be a leader among the Dirty Dozen’s underclassman DBs, rocking the Turnover Chain against Herculaneum, and feasting on Jefferson’s overmatched opposing QBs for a sterling five INTs and two fumble recoveries in eight games. But it was the fast, agile rookie’s championship chops, and his playoff poise, that set him apart as one of the county’s true rising names on the gridiron in the last two contests.
Young’s three takeaways from St. Vincent’s senior QB have sent the adolescent star’s stat line into the stratosphere. He’s one of the highest rated freshmen at STLToday/FB, this side of Vianney quarterback Harlan Futrell. His “Chase Wilson”-interception total of eight is now merely five off the pace of the Metro’s interceptions lead! Young easily tops all JeffCo rookies in total takeaways. Area SENIORS with as many T/Os as Young will be vanishingly rare after Week 12, now that Oakville can’t recover any more fumbles.
Young took things up a notch this weekend. Jefferson High’s 5’9″ greenhorn was asked to take over as the starting quarterback in Class 2, District 2’s semifinal, playing counterpart to the veteran Jackson Benney of Montgomery County. And – maybe because those interceptions are such a big piece of the cake for JHS right now – Young was asked to keep playing defense on Friday.
How did that go? It wasn’t pretty, but it was effective – like a microcosm of how a star freshman’s whole season tends to go on the gridiron. Young’s offense was unlucky to be saddled with bad field position, penalties, and bobbles, and his chances for takeaways disappeared on defense, due to the fatigue of an Iron Man duty that few freshmen besides Jaxin Patterson – who does rank above those 2022 Crystal City coverage men in the pantheon of heroic 15-year-olds – would ever dare to take on in a playoff encounter. Jefferson had to try to avoid taking safeties, and improve field position, during a grudging first half, after which MCHS led 6-0.
Young couldn’t do a ton through the air in the second half, either. But the speedster was getting warm, and when the Jefferson defense – sparked by a plus-territory INT by senior Brandon Crader – put its foot down on the suddenly impotent Wildcats, the Blue Jays had worlds better field position to work with, and four downs at a time to keep the surge going. It’s incredible, but Young’s two late, clutch, short-range rushing TDs that outscored MCHS 14-12 were produced by a kid who can’t legally drive, playing as an every-down option runner in the style of Malcolm Perry, almost like the “RB” he’s supposed to be.
Young’s not just a JeffCo stat tycoon among men, boys, and “Napoleon” Wilsons, he’s a title winner, too, and his vibe is the blunt opposite of a freshman “champion” who stands on the sideline at Jackson watching his Indians win again. Jefferson could not have won the conference without Young’s handy presence at CB. They especially would’ve had a rough time without Kerley in the lineup against a Montgomery County defense that played so hard, it was like the Wildcats woke up and decided that it was 2025 again, save for Young rescuing the Blue Jays with a surprise start and a workmanlike performance as an Iron Man. What’s more impressive, a rookie snagging three INTs in the conference title tilt, or playing both ways, and lunch-bucketing a W?
Jefferson probably doesn’t keep “freshman” team records. The Geek knows few college teams that do so officially, since “rookie” is always a bigger deal in the Fantasy Sports and Awards-markets world of NFL pigskin. But if the Blue Jays kept such records, they would find Young’s feats atop those of underclassmen with “Graves” on their jersey. That fact has to have QCC rivals shivering.
There isn’t much available video from the QCC conquest on 10/23, but Jefferson’s been utilizing No. 24 at wide receiver when it can.
Now for the second topic of note – why is Young’s profile over 10 days late? If The Geek is correct about the main reason why he has wound up singing Young’s praises close to a fortnight late, in spite of such an epic performance against St. Vincent, it points to our belief that the Blue Jays just might have kept enough tricks in their back pocket to give Valle Catholic something to think about Friday, no matter who toils at QB.
Of course, one reason is Mississippi Magazine’s Week 9 Blind Spot, and the conditions of a flippin’ bonkers insane year of JeffCo football that made the Week 9 Blind Spot worse. The Geek swore off recapping Week 9s years ago, avoiding the chore in favor of getting Week 10 and 11’s playoff predictions ready. This year, because Jefferson and Northwest won conference titles, we added Week 9’s popular Facebook blurb on Klump’s team record, and a precious video of one of his receptions, Then, on further review, the Oakville coaching staff, one meek kicker, and one passionate “jerk your helmet off and hop”-guy had manufactured this last-play controversy over the line-of-scrimmage. Plus ANOTHER one about the Northwest end zone’s sideline. PLUS STILL ANOTHER ONE concerning the fact that the PK ran and tripped himself in the pile, which turned into a doctored Screenshot and a Fake News story later that week that The Geek had to go back and stifle with a second recap of Week 9 (ugh), having run out of his quota of Controversy Takes in Week 9’s original morning-after congrats. WHEW! Wipe your brow, and say hello to JeffCo football in ’26.
TGG must still owe an apology to the Young family, who may have been asking “What Does No. 24 Have To Do To Get Back In The Headlines!” following the frosh phenom’s tour-de-force against St. Vincent that far surpassed what he did against Herky. The Geek does feel awfully about his late uptake in the general sense. However … there’s also no getting around the Elephant in the Room.
R-7’s headlines run late because the Jefferson Blue Jays prefer them to. In some ways, they might prefer to see 0 timely headlines about specific players, roles, or Friday night developments at Blue Jay Way. It’s an old-school, secretive formula, the “New England Patriots” of the Dirty Dozen, that takes advantage of opposing teams’ phones losing internet service when they cross Plattin Creek, if not as often now as 15 years ago. Think the Geek is crazy? Making up excuses for a 10-day vacation? Hmm. You didn’t try following the Blue Jays and any other teams on the same night. Even watching the mysterious ‘Jays alone is hard.
Jefferson wipes its home games from MSHSAA TV quickly after live streaming. If you focus on only cheering the Blue Jays’ stream – always a fun notion – you’d better have a headset and a pencil on you. Jefferson’s home-game streams make it hard to hear PA calls with regularity. Unless you watch from 7 to 9:30 PM with NO interruptions, you do not know what the score is, how much clock time has elapsed, or often the down-and-distance, because Jefferson’s live scoreboard IS A LAVA LAMP. Seriously. Readers who watch Jefferson High play football – and maybe other sports? on MSHSAA TV know this already – it is a blinding, swirling, psychedelic LAVA LAMP that blots out the real scoreboard. So, The Geek has sadly given up trying to cheer for Jefferson on many weekends. Tracking home games live requires keeping your own Play Chart + Box Score, while not missing a single snap.
There’s too much secretive smoke out of Jefferson not to be a fire. Surely, lots of people have complained that they never see a scoreboard, only a Lava Lamp, when they watch the Blue Jays on TV. Other folks who work late on Fridays have probably asked if coaches would keep the footage of each contest online longer. They haven’t done so, and they never replaced the Lava Lamps.
Jefferson’s coaches know that it is harder to scout the Jays’ tendencies if opponents have to watch live, and don’t know the down-and-distance scenarios apart from what they can see when Jefferson’s camera picks up the chains close to midfield. It makes them send volunteer coaches off the grid to watch JHS call plays, coaches who can’t be at their team’s headquarters to help their brand start to transition into “Jefferson Week” – and they have to go through a whole official process to get JHS’s replay footage. When they get it, it’s likely to have that blinding scoreboard light getting in the way of the Play Charts.
You don’t often see Mississippi Magazine gripe about it and we’ve covered the Blue Jays a long time. Jefferson’s secretiveness has to be accepted as part of the richness of Blue Jays’ football. It’s a throwback, to the time when Jeff County coaches used our lack of suitable local media to their advantage, wanting opponents to arrive and gulp at a bunch of huge kids they’d never heard of before.
In other words, we’d have a better bead on Mr.’s Young and Klump by now, if Jefferson’s TV games were not designed as Members Only experiences for alumni with clipboards on their lap and ballpark peanuts on the table at 7 PM sharp. But that’s nothing that a right-minded reporter should criticize or question, so long as we’ve figured out why the school does it, to waste an opponent’s resources, and give Jefferson’s kids their best possible chance at winning. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
“If it’s bad for my opponent, it’s good for me.” – Bobby Fischer
There are three silver linings to Young’s second (of many) Gridiron Geek profiles coming 10+ days late. The first is that we got to include Young’s brave QB/CB performance against MCHS, which earned Jefferson at least one more District silver medal to place on the mantle. The second is that because Young’s parents certainly knew that he was secretly (-imagine that-) getting prepped as JHS’s starting playoff quarterback, they hopefully laughed and said, “They won’t ignore him for much longer!” because the flash at “Quarterback!” draws the media’s focus like nothing else. Finally, this focuses The Geek on a shot to cheer Jefferson properly at Valle Catholic, which does not have a Pink Floyd Visualizer in place of its scoreboard. We won’t miss an eye-blink from No. 24.
Compare the above to Jefferson’s likely coaches’ reaction to all this. “Our Lava Lamp made another one turn it off,” they can cackle. “He didn’t warn Montgomery County about our freshman, ha ha!” It’s not the exact same kind of laughter as when Valle sat in Class 1 and The Gridiron Geek nicknamed Coach Naeger “Dex R. Stacky,” prompting giggles all the way to Gansner Farms. But it has been a crazy, emotionally exhausting season. We’ll take all of the browsers’ chuckles we can get.
In addition, the Jefferson Blue Jays didn’t try to erase Live Stream STL’s version of the Montgomery County semifinal, leaving us with an $11 glimpse at Young’s guts, if not his Senior Night picks. (They’ve also left footage from four early-year games on their HUDL account, an early Christmas gift to frustrated MSHSAA scouts.) Jefferson also appears to be lauding TD scorers, if not comprehensively, on X when the team plays at home. So, we’ve got some hype to chew on from the Blue Jays’ 7-1 streak.
The Geek has reinforced the site’s Conference Celebration with Young’s defense, added to Klump’s offense.
Will the secretiveness pay off with a surprise upset bid at Valle? Young’s skills most certainly can. If Live Stream STL was right about Kerley’s absence being – maybe not injury related from the sound of it? – then Jefferson has a pocket-sized “Braydon Wilkes” at its disposal in Young, a player who could play quarterback but won’t need to, against the favored #1 seeds. Having a cornerback who could possibly finish with 10+ interceptions on one side of the field means that HC Matt Atley can flood the other side of Valle’s formation with junior and senior coverage men, maybe-just-maybe giving Valle’s own couple of QBs unexpected problems.
Valle Catholic will have to work for a district title, against a Week 12 upstart that is beginning to emerge from the Grade 9 ranks thru Grade 12. That lends valuable experience to Young’s rookie effort at Blue Jay Way, one that’s got “scholarship kid” written all over it.
Photo Credit: The Grind South Facebook