2024 ATH Jayshaun Wanton is one of the best players from the Jacksonville, FL area in the Class of 2024.
Wanton attends Lake Forest Elementary School. The dynamic Wanton plays running back, wide receiver, outside linebacker and defensive back.
North Florida Ravens coach Nard Brown says Wanton reminds him of Jacksonville native/NFL Pro Bowler Laveranues Coles.
Youth1 spoke to Brown and Wanton himself to learn a little more about the standout athlete.
Name: Jayshaun Wanton
Class: 2024
Position: ATH
Height: 4-foot-9
Weight: 95 pounds
Youth League teams: NFAA
What he likes about playing football: It’s a great sport to play and it’s a educational sport to play. Football is one of the main sports in sports history.
What playing football has taught him: It teaches me how hard you have to work to be great at anything in life. It’s made me a leader and more responsible.
Favorite football memory: When I got a national ring. It made me feel successful.
His approach to being a good teammate: I try to think about others and help others, by like helping people when they don’t know what to do on a drill.
What he’s learned from his coaches: They push me on drills and talk to me at the end of practice. They always tell me if you work out you’ll be good and get the awards you deserve.
Favorite player: Ezekiel Elliott
Favorite subject: Math.
Colleges he’s interested in: Florida State because I look up to Dalvin Cook.
His goals on and off the field: On the field I want to average two touchdown a game. Off the field, I want to be the best person I can be.
Coach’s take
Nard Brown - Coaches Wanton at North Florida Ravens
Best football qualities: At running back it's his footwork and vision. They go hand in hand. He sees the cracks and finds a way make it up in there to be gone. It’s like tap tap tap and zoom. At cornerback, it's his ball skills. He plays the ball and the man to come up with interceptions. I mostly played him at linebacker and he’s a monster there. The football IQ that he has on defense at his age is something you can't teach. He gets that from being a student of the game.
Football IQ: On the offensive side we had a weak link in our line. A few times on a certain play, (Raven Right, 24 trap) he got stopped for a loss. I decided to switch blockers once we run that play. Mr. Wanton told me,"No coach the defending team will pick up on that. Just call it, keep giving it to me, then set them up with a pass out of it." My face at the time was like wow what in the world? So I did as this 9-year-old told me. We threw the pass out of it off the play action fake and bam, it was a 62-yard touchdown.
On defense he use his IQ with his instincts and gut feelings. He watched the setup of the opposite team offensive formations and what plays they do out of it. Once again we called a Cover 2 Zone Read for the backers but he was like “Coach they’re about to toss it left”. I said “On 2nd and 17?” He said “Yeah coach trust me.” He walked out side of the DE up to the line to blitz in and I'll be a monkey’s uncle because it was a toss left. By the time the running back caught the toss, it was a big, hard, fast hit getting landed on him from Mr Wanton in like .4 seconds for a loss. But more importantly he fumbled and we recovered it. Everybody said “Good blitz call Coach Nard.” I replied “Nah that was all Wanton.”
Leadership abilities: His leadership comes from his character. Most kids want to be first and with that they feel like “I'm the leader of the team because I'm 1st in this or that.” Unlike Mr. Wanton. He doesn’t want any of his brothers to be last. If a lineman is behind on the laps he will drop back and finish with him. If a player is not understanding a drill he will ask the question like it's him getting it wrong and go to demonstrate it so his fellow brother on the field can see it properly. He congratulates everyone on the team when they do good and if somebody in trouble and has extra stuff to do before, during, or after practice he's right there to do it with them, so they know they’re not alone. Players like him only come once in a lifetime. They can't be made or transformed into this. They have to be born with that gift.
An example of his big-play ability: The biggest play that sticks out to me from him was this punt return he made. He has had several big plays but this one was the one just in my book. So it's Week 1 and we are playing Westside MightyMite who also was a very good team and they’re only loss came from us in this game. The score is 6-0 our way. Westside is on top of everything we’re doing and stopping us. It's 4th and long for the Westside Wildcats. They decided to punt. The punt wasn't a bad punt but it wasn't a great punt. Everybody was saying to let it bounce or let it roll. Once it's downed we aren't going to have great field position but it's going to be good field position for us to try to score before halftime. The ball hits the ground and pops up. Low and behold Wanton catches it and takes off straight west to the Westside sideline. We’re all are holding our breath. All of a sudden it’s tap tap tap with his feet and his vision kicks in. He turns north, slide threw a crack and it's off to the races. Touchdown North Florida is all you hear over the PA system. The crowd went wild.
Work ethic: He’s determined. Everything he does, he goes 100 percent in doing it. He has no rest button. He loves to put in work. Even when we’re ending [practice] he stays after to do stuff just to get it right by being a little more quicker. His favorite saying is “I don’t need Gatorade, coach I'm good. I tell him all the time drink it before I get put out of coaching for child endangerment. [laughs] All in all, the biggest reason his motor is so high is because of his dad, Kevin Wanton. He keeps him active and working on his craft.
Areas of improvement: Catching. He can definitely be an all-around back. His catching is not Grade A. He struggled with that last season. But so far this year in workouts he has improved a whole lot. On a scale of 1-10 last year he was a 4 or 5. Right now he's a 8. This offseason that was our main area of focus with him.
Wanton’s potential: He has no limitations. He can actually become the best player to make it pro from Jacksonville as long as he stays on this track he's riding on.
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