Shippensburg signee Redfern a player Schalick built around
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
PITTSGROVE – When JaQuan Redfern came to Schalick High School two years ago, he was literally half the player he is today. He was nowhere near the burly hulk he has become, he had only one prior unmemorable snap of varsity experience and he wanted to play a position that really wasn’t suited for him.
But he arrived with a burning desire to help turn a program into a winner and that’s exactly the kind of player Cougars coach Mike Wilson was looking for as he tried to turn around a team that hadn’t won a game the year before.
It didn’t take long for Redfern to establish himself as the emotional linchpin of the team. He took the lead in rallying the team in practices and he bulked up through his first-time experience in the weight room to become the tight end the Cougars ran behind “a lot” on offense and a terror on defense as a starting linebacker.
And it didn’t go unnoticed. Wednesday afternoon he was among a record 12 mostly spring Schalick athletes celebrating what athletics director Doug Volovar called “fulfilling their dreams” in signing to play at the next level. Redfern will play football at Shippensburg.
“He really helped us turn around,” Wilson said. “The year before we were oh-and-seven. His junior year we went 4-6, his senior year we went 7-3 and won our division and got back to the playoffs for the first time in five years.
“He brought a swagger that our other kids didn’t have and the kids fed off his swagger … I’ve had kids like this (at other schools) … but we were an established program with those kids. He helped us establish where we’re going now.”
When he first started playing in high school Redfern didn’t look the type. He was maybe 5-4, 140 pounds as a freshman. The next year he shot up to 5-8. Two years in the Cougars weight room has gotten him to 6-2, 240.
Redfern grew up in Vineland in a family of players. His cousin Isiah Pacheco is a running back for the Kansas City Chiefs and scored a third-quarter touchdown as their leading rusher against the Eagles in the Super Bowl. It would please him to no end “to make something big” out of football that was “everything I had” growing up, just like his cousin did.
To that end, he wanted to go to school and play with his younger cousin Kenai Simmons and made the move with nothing but desire to make something happen.
“When I first came to the Cougars, I’m pretty sure they won zero games the year before so I was getting here ready to build the team up,” Redfern said. “I was telling my teammates they could do it. When I first got here they were doubting themselves and I just got on top of them. I wanted to give them the confidence they could win games.
“They had losing seasons so all they were hearing was they were going to lose, they were going lose, so I had to be a leader and that’s what I did. I just knew we could build something here, me and my cousins. I knew I could bring something here when I got here.”
The light bulb moment for Wilson came early. The Cougars were in practice after a bad season-opening loss with the lesson of the day being fighting through adversity. The coaches were determined to keep the team on the field until they came together as a team.
Redfern brought his big frame to its feet, rose about the huddled players and encouraged his teammates to pick it up. He bought in to what Wilson was selling, the players followed his lead and just like that the Cougars had found their Pied Piper.
“JaQuan was a big help to the team,” fullback and Wilkes signee Fuquan Sutton said. “He was the starting linebacker we had and he would always be there to clean up the mess, so if we ever had someone not in position or not being able to do something, he’d be the first person to jump up and said I’ll do it. At the beginning I thought, ‘Oh, come on, calm down,’ but after the season started I was like that’s the type person the team needs to carry us along the way.”
“I can definitely say he was a big, huge help to the team,” added teammate David Sipowicz, who’s also headed to Wilkes for wrestling and football. “There were multiple times when it would be either JaQuan or myself stepping up. He won’t speak out of context, he’ll speak when words are needed.”
And like the old investment company commercial, when JaQuan talks, people listen.
Redfern formally signed with Shippensburg in December and was expecting to join the Raiders in January, but his arrival was delayed by a basketball injury. He’s expecting to report later this month.
He can’t wait. The Raiders are looking to bounce back from a losing season. He knows just what to do.
“I’m just going to try to go in there and be a leader,” he said. “Build the team up.”
He’s done it before.
This story first appeared on the Riverview Sports News Facebook page on June 7.
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