Jameson Davis was No. 3 on Brother Rice’s depth chart at running back last season, but he didn’t pout.
This fall, Davis shares the workload with Jaylin Green and the junior is fine with that as well.
“It definitely keeps us fresh,” Davis said after the Crusaders beat visiting St. Charles North 42-18 before a capacity crowd in a Class 7A quarterfinal on Nov. 15.
“We say it a lot, if we had a starting job anywhere else, we would be banged up all the time. But yeah, definitely sharing the backfield keeps us refreshed. And also, you just can’t take reps away from a back like Jaylin. He does everything I can do and more. … He’s earned it here for four years. Last year, I was behind him and Tyler Lofton, who’s now at Illinois State. I learned from him.”
Now Davis, a 5-10, 193-pounder. is getting college interest and has offers from Arizona State and Iowa State among others.
His patience is paying off for the Crusaders (11-1), who will host Downers Grove North (10-2) in the 7A semifinals this weekend.
Davis ran 13 times for 110 yards against St. Charles North (10-2), including touchdowns of 36 and 31 yards in the third quarter as Rice pulled away after halftime.
Green also had a big night with 93 rushing yards and 53 receiving yards. He ran in from less than a yard out to open the scoring and also caught a 4-yard TD pass from CJ Gray to help the Crusaders take a 21-9 halftime lead.
Like Davis, Green is fine with not getting all the carries.
“It keeps me fresher,” Davis said.
And it helps that Gray also is a dual-threat quarterback. The Army commit threw for 140 yards against the North Stars and ran for 57, including a 2-yard TD in the second quarter.
“It feels good,” Green said of having so many impact players on offense. “I mean, we’ve still got stuff to work on. But we’re just gonna keep getting better and better and then eventually hit our goal,”
The Crusaders also had big contributions on defense and special teams. Damari Thigpen ran a punt back 70 yards for a touchdown, while a defensive front led by Illinois commit King Liggins, Brayden Parks and Kameron McGee shut down St. Charles North’s running game.
“It’s just our week of preparation,” said Parks, a four-star prospect who is the state’s consensus No. 10 junior. “We lean on each other, we listen to our coaches. listen to each other. We just trust in one another and make the play.”
And the defense feeds off the offense, like when Green breaks off a long gain.
“We know our offense got our back and we got theirs,” Parks said. “Seeing him gives us more energy and we love that.”