Milby on the rise in Houston

If you can play basketball in Houston, you go to Milby High. If you can play football, you usually go to Lamar High School.

Milby football coach Mike Jackson, however, is trying to change all that while selling his football program to the inner city. He's had some early success, drawing a few of the city's top youngsters – one in particular.

Defensive end Jarvis Smith enrolled at Milby to play basketball but fell in love with football. The 6-foot-3, 220-pound sophomore tore up his district as a freshman, earning first-team, all-district honors and leading his team in tackles. Smith had 118 tackles, 18 sacks, 32 tackles for a loss and an interception.

"Jarvis is the face of our program and people from his neighborhood want to follow him to Milby," Jackson said. "He's so talented and athletic. I've never seen teams game plan around a defensive end like this.

"Colleges are already checking him out," he said. "He's a once-in-a-lifetime player. We think he'll have his choice from 117 Division I schools. I know right now, he loves Oklahoma."

Since Jackson's arrival, Milby has done the little things to get attention in the Houston's (HISD) inner city open enrollment district.

"HISD is not a socialistic district – it's capitalistic," Jackson said. "You build a better mousetrap to attract the good kids. It's the small things like hosting camps and junior high seven-on-seven tournaments. Letting our kids design our uniforms and having nice travel bags. Hiring a full-time strength coach, investing in a nicer locker room and being visible in the community."

In 2003, Jackson started with 35 kids in his program. Now he's up to 160 this season. At Milby, however, he had to clear one major obstacle.

"Before coming here, I had to get the athletic department to agree to let basketball kids play football," he said. "We got that out of the way and are an extremely basketball friendly football program. We give our kids more time in the gym than anyplace else. We know after football, kids want to go home and hoop, they aren't playing street football."

With a realistic attitude, Jackson is drawing kids to his program by employing basketball practice techniques.

"We roll out a boom box and play music during practice. The kids love it," Jackson said. "Kids won't run though a wall for a coach just because. The coach has to get respect first, then they will run through the wall"

Mixing the present and future, Milby has a Division I talent in every class. Senior tight end Johny Davis entered the program from basketball and has only 18 practices under his belt. Davis (6-3, 225) is receiving interest from Kansas State and several SWAC conference schools.

"Johny is a perfect example of what we are doing here," Jackson said. "There are 1,000 6-3, kids playing basketball, but not that many playing football. He moved over and could be a prototypical linebacker at the next level. It didn't happen in the past here. One of our great basketball player Alton Ford could have been an NFL tight end and Jewel McClellan (Arizona) could have been a Michael Vick-type quarterback."

Junior running back Patrick Myles (5-9, 170) is the leading returning rusher in the district who only played five games last year.

The sophomore class is led by Smith and receiver Joshua Obgonwon (6-2, 170-pounds), who was a second-team all-district selection as a freshman.

Is it too early to start talking about incoming freshman?

"D.D. Lewis' (Seattle Seahawks) nephew Quenton Lewis is a 6-foot-2, 180-pound cover corner," Jackson said. "He plays basketball and is one of Jarvis' best friends. It just takes getting that first great player to jump start a program."