CHESAPEAKE, VA (WTKR)- Spend a few minutes at a 757 Colts practice and one thing quickly becomes clear: These kids love football.
For 14U running back Jaden Brown, however, the sport represents more than what happens between the lines.
“Football means everything to me,” Brown said. “It just helps me in my mental, all the things I do. Football, it's just a happy place. Very fun sport.”
Brown is part of the next generation being developed by a program that has already produced some of Hampton Roads’ top high school football players, including Indian River’s Lord Malik Heru and Maury’s Matt Williams.
That history gives the Colts’ current players plenty of examples to follow.
“It gets me very excited because I know, myself, I’ve got the ability to be just like them,” Brown said. “I really look up to them.”
Offensive lineman Aaron Hagans points to another former Colt, Jaylen Speller, now at IMG Academy, as one of his role models.
“I look up to him as like a big brother because he played on the line also,” Hagans noted.
The Colts’ success under 14U head coach Redd Jenkins can be measured in championships. Jenkins says the program has won seven national titles.
But those aren't the trophies that mean the most to him.
“I can’t tell you where the trophies are,” Jenkins said. “But when I see the kids, they’re doing great in high school, they’re doing great in college, that’s a trophy to me.”
Brown and Hagans could eventually add their names to the program’s list of success stories.
Both already hold scholarship offers from Virginia Tech despite neither having played a down of high school football.
“It means a lot because I’ve always wanted to go to Virginia Tech since I was younger, so that means a lot to me,” said Hagans.
Brown shares that appreciation.
“It means a lot to me,” he pointed out. “Even though I haven’t played a down of high school ball, they still gave me an offer. I’m very thankful for that.”
For Hagans, his development with the Colts has also provided a measuring stick for how far he has come.
“When I came to the Colts, there were a whole bunch of guys who were bigger and better than me,” he noted. “But over the years, I got better and now I low key can match what they can do and stuff.”
For Jenkins, though, developing talented football players is only part of the mission.
He sees the sport as an opportunity to give young people an outlet and put them on a path toward success away from football, too.
“Football’s a vehicle for that, to get some kids off the streets,” Jenkins observed. “There’s not a lot in our area for kids to do so it’s been something that we’ve channeled in some kids and been able to rearrange some things. We can’t save them all, but we save as many as we can.”
Some of his favorite success stories have little to do with wins, losses or recruiting rankings. They are the players who needed someone to believe in them and challenge them.
“People said, ‘I don’t know what you’re going to do with him, Coach Redd,’” recalled Jenkins. “But I take things like that as a challenge and I use that as fuel to help the kid and push forward.”
Brown has experienced that commitment firsthand.
“Coach Redd was there for me since I was 7 years old,” Brown said. “He’s really been looking out for me, so ever since I turned 14, I’ve really wanted to play with the Colts.”
That relationship reflects what Jenkins ultimately wants the 757 Colts to represent.
“I hope kids know that this is like a brotherhood or fraternity,” Jenkins said. “You’re expected to do well with life, not just with football, but with life when you leave our program. That’s the expectation.”
For the Colts, the work happening on a patch of grass today could help produce the next Hampton Roads football standout.
Jenkins hopes it produces something even more important: young men prepared for whatever comes after the game.
The 757 Colts are working to raise funds in hopes of giving this year's team an opportunity to compete for a national championship in Florida next month.
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