For the last few seasons there has been a consistent theme in the Habersham Central backfield, and that is Jackson Clouâtré putting up big yards. Well last Friday Clouâtré had the game of his career rushing for 300 yards against Apalachee.
The play that capped off the night was a +50 yard touchdown where Clouâtré put on one of the niftiest jukes of the 2021 season so far. Taking the handoff, Clouâtré quickly accelerated up the middle of the defense into a 1v1 situation with the FS at the 2nd level, and the senior dropped a juke to the left that froze the defender, and before you knew it, Clouâtré was sprinting into the endzone 50 yards down field.
It’s exciting plays just like that has Clouâtré feeling good about his senior year, but before we could get to this point in the 2020 season, we have to go back to everything that led up to last week’s exciting 300-yard performance.
“During the off-season I had to over come adversity with everything going on. I just trusted the process the whole way even when it was hard. I trained daily at home with tractor tires, agility ladders, etc. it wasn’t just the agility work that helped during the off-season but the weekly film study of myself, opponents, and the pros. In my eyes the off-season was a opportunity for me to out work my opponents,” Clouâtré said.
Just watch his game film above against Apalachee. Clouâtré looks noticeably faster and is really exploding out his breaks from a lateral stand point. He is not losing much speed in the process when he makes one of these dramatic changes of direction either.
This says multiple things about Clouâtré. He was able to self-examine where he needed to improve, and attacked it, but also had the humility to look at his skill level from an objective point of view, and learn from watching the pros. That sort of self-reflection is the key to any athlete’s progression, and Clouâtré has done just that in 2020.
Enough talking about where he has improved, and let’s have Clouâtré in his own words explain what separates himself from other running backs.
“I think what separates me from other running backs is my football IQ and being able to read the defense pre and post snap. I model my game off my last film. By doing such, this helps me improve weekly, because as we all know you can always improve on every aspect of the game.”
Again, self reflection, and learning from prior experience – that’s a hallmark of this 2021 running back.
The senior has big goals going into the meat of the 2020 schedule that he outlined.
“My goal for the season is to reach 2,000 yards and help my team the best way I can each week.”
Right now, Clouâtré is almost a quarter of the way there with 480 yards in just two games and Habersham Central is 2-0 where the offense has steam rolled over local rivals in the area.
In the recruiting world, Clouâtré is still waiting to see how the process plays out.
“I’ve heard from a few colleges and look forward to hearing from more as the year goes on, and seeing where that goes.”
If he continues this strong start to the season, then colleges from all over will soon perk up with interest. This weekend Habersham Central is off, but next week they are off to another team off to a 2-0 start in White County, and that should certainly be another game for Clouâtré to showcases his speed and quickness. So be on the lookout on @RecruitGeorgia on Twitter for the latest big highlight from Clouâtré to drop and the rest of the players from across the state of Georgia this season.
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