Putting it together

Josh Powell has the tools.

He has the arm. He has the body. He has the physical abilities needed to be a college quarterback.

Just look at the numbers.

The body goes 6-foot-3, 205 pounds. The arm accounted for 1,692 passing yards in his junior season – his first as Shadle Park High’s starting signal-caller. He tossed 17 touchdown passes while throwing four interceptions. He ran for 160 yards with another five touchdowns. The Highlanders were 8-2 overall, and he was the Greater Spokane League’s most valuable offense player.

Not bad for a guy who was just 16 years old during the season.

But by his own admission, he was a guy who acted 16 too often last year. From that admission came his goals for his last high school season.

“I’m learning how to keep my emotions inside, keeping them so nobody can see when I’m mad,” Powell said. “I’m learning how to encourage players without getting them down. I’m learning a lot of that from my coaches.”

“Physically he can play quarterback, there’s no question about that,” said Powell’s coach, Mark Hester. “He’s got to work on that other piece. He’s got to be more positive about himself, about his teammates. He’s got to be more positive about situations.”

If it sounds like nit-picking, it might be. It also might be outdated.

The maturity is coming, and it showed itself last week during and after, of all things, a loss.

“Last year I would get down on myself, and (his teammates) could tell that I was upset with them by my body language,” Powell said. “I’m controlling that this year. When I threw that interception against NC (during a 24-14 defeat last Friday), I just turned and walked off the field. I just said, ‘Come on, we’ll get them next time.’ “

But it was what Powell said after the game that showed Hester the lessons are taking.

Losing to your rival hurts, and the Highlanders arrived back at school depressed. In the dungeon-like locker room, Shadle’s coaches did their best to pick the team up.

When it was Powell’s turn to talk, Hester said, the quarterback stood up and praised the offensive line’s play and how they were “the best line in the league.”

“Whether they are or they aren’t, when your quarterback says that, that’s being a leader,” Hester said.

This week’s practices were the best the Highlanders have had, and Powell’s statement – and work ethic – had a lot to do with it.

If Powell supports his offensive line, the support is returned fivefold, especially from center Chas Faggiano, whom Powell said has been one of his biggest booster since seventh grade.

“I’ve been with him for a while,” Powell said, “He’s a smart kid. He’s a captain and he picks everyone up all the time.

“He’s helped a lot with teaching me how to be a leader.”

Another lesson Powell has learned is learning his lessons. That’s easy in athletics, in which he is a three-sport varsity starter (basketball and baseball are the others).

But he admits he screwed around academically as a freshman before getting a wake-up call his sophomore year.

“I had to miss the Cheney game because I had an F,” he said. “I was pretty upset about that. I promised myself I wouldn’t get a bad grade the rest of my high school career and, if I go on to college ball, in college ball I wouldn’t either.”

Getting his grade-point average up to the current 3.0 level is a step toward enticing college recruiters, as are the numbers he posts on the field.

“I’ve been contacted by a few schools, and I want to go on, I want the opportunity,” Powell said. “I don’t know what level I can play at, but I want to try.”

Powell, who grew up in Tennessee before moving to Spokane prior to junior high, is the second brother to pass through Shadle.

Older brother Shawn, a tight end, attends Eastern Washington University. He also set a tone on the field that Josh follows.

“Josh is tough, real tough, just like his brother,” Hester said before launching into a story about an injury Shawn played through his senior year.

“Josh has always been tough. He doesn’t take himself out, he doesn’t have a lot of owies.

“Another strength is his family, a great family, a great mother and father.”

Arms, legs, football brains, family support, a new-found maturity.

All part of the tools Powell has used to make himself one of the best quarterbacks in the GSL.