Goss: Dad treats quarterback son like everyone else

As a high school football coach, Joliet West’s Jason Aubry is in an enviable position.

He has a junior quarterback who knows the offense as well as the coach. The kid threw for almost 2,000 yards last season, when the Tigers made the playoffs and finished 6-4, and he already has 11/2 years of starting varsity experience.

Still, Aubry is careful choosing his words when it comes to discussing the quarterback – his son, Jaxon.

When I stopped at West to talk with Aubry and some of his players earlier this week, I asked the coach a question that forced a lengthy pause before he answered.

How good, how great, of a high school quarterback can Jaxon become?

“If Jax was 6-2, I feel he would be a national recruit,” Jason Aubry said. “He is the hardest worker on our team because he has heard me talk since the day he could walk what great players should be.”

Another pause, and then this from Jason: “With that said, there are other players here like [junior cornerback] Tyler Barnette who just busts his butt every day.”

Aubry understandably never wants to give the impression he is treating his son differently. He is not.

“I consider every one of these kids my son,” he said. “Jax is my son – he lives with me – but I treat him the same as everyone else.”

Aubry admitted, “It is tough for me,” when it comes to discussing Jaxon.

“Jax knows the offense so well that there are times we don’t have to call a play,” he said. “But [skill-position] guys like Kevon Dorris, Omari Ferguson, TJ Neal and Ezekiel Tulloch are the reasons Jax can do what he does. It’s the guys around him, including the big guys up front.”

Dorris, who will join Ferguson and Neal to head the Tigers’ receiving corps, has been in school with Jaxon since kindergarten. They attended and played sports together at Troy Middle School.

“Kevon and I have a connection,” Jaxon said. “We pick apart our own defense in practice. I’ve been with TJ [Neal] since I was a freshman and he was a sophomore. We’ve had a young team lately, so I’ve had a connection with some of the guys for more than two years.”

Jaxon Aubry is accurate throwing the short- and medium-range pass. He also has the arm to deliver the deep ball. He is mobile. He doesn’t necessarily favor running the ball but will use his legs to avoid the rush. When he needs to escape the pocket and get outside, he has the speed to do that.

Division I schools are showing interest, even though he is 5-11.

“Mike Uremovich was in here, and I told him Jax isn’t even 6 feet,” Jason Aubry said. “He said, ‘Who cares if he’s not 6 feet, if he can play?’ ”

Uremovich, a Providence graduate, is the former University of St. Francis head coach and now is the assistant head coach/offensive coordinator at Northern Illinois.

“Right now, though, I don’t want Jax worrying about college, and he doesn’t want that, either,” Jason Aubry said. “We have to win a state championship here first. The guys know what they want. They’re going to push for it.

“As a quarterback, you are defined by whether you win, not how many yards you throw for. That’s what colleges want to see – did your team win?”

“There are lots of D-I, BCS schools that have contacted me, but right now, I want to put our team first,” Jaxon Aubry said. “That’s more important than my personal future.

“Eventually, I will want to go to a place where I have a good connection with the coaches and the offense suits me.”

Meaning? He smiled and added, “Whatever is going on in the Big 12, that deep-ball vertical passing game, that would be good.

“But I like running, too. I’m not a juker. I’m more like Jordan Lynch was at NIU, get 5 yards and put my shoulder down. I like to run in order to throw. If I can draw the outside defender up and then drop the ball over the top to the tight end, that’s perfect.”

As a freshman, Jaxon was the understudy for Alex Tibble, until Tibble was sidelined with a mid-season injury. He has been starting since.

“It was tough for him when he was a freshman and he’s in the huddle with seniors,” Jason Aubry said. “Last year, Jax had better rapport with his teammates.

“Now, they feel he is the guy. It helps that he is here [in the weight room] busting it with everybody else.”

It also helps that Jason Aubry has all the Tigers, his son included, pulling in the same direction, aiming for nothing less than a state championship.

• Dick Goss can be reached at dgoss@shawmmedia.com.