2023 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: Norwin’s Jackson Pons

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Friday, July 28, 2023 | 11:01 AM

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When his team was flagged for a hold last week during the championship of the Westmoreland County Coaches Association Larry Sellitto Memorial 7-on-7 Passing Tournament at Latrobe, Norwin’s Jackson Pons showed his frustration.

He threw up his hands and walked away from the play.

First-year coach Mike Brown reeled in Pons and told him to forget about it and keep playing.

“It’s tough when you can’t be physical,” said Pons, a wide receiver and safety. “You try to make plays, and you’re in the right spots to do that, but … it’s just not played like a real game.”

Needless to say, the rising senior can’t wait for the season to start so he can hit somebody.

Norwin fell to Latrobe, 18-12, in the WCCA final. It was the Knights’ one and only 7-on-7 event of the summer.

To Pons, helmets and shorts are a poor substitute for full pads and non-penalized vigor.

“We’ll be back,” Pons said. “We have huge potential this year. There is a lot of athleticism that no one is going to expect to see.”

Pons has committed to Miami of Ohio, a Mid-American Conference program that recruited him to play safety. He said previously he has a newfound ardor for defense.

The Knights, who take a seven-game losing streak into the season after a 1-9 mark in 2022, will lean heavily on Pons, who will catch passes, possibly run the ball and ball-hawk in the secondary.

“We have to decide who we are and what kind of team we want to be,” he said. “Camp is the next big step.”

During the county 7-on-7, Norwin players yelled from the sideline, “’Come on, Pons … Let’s go, Pons … OK, Pons’,” leaning on their leader to make plays and celebrating his catches and breakups.

“That’s the biggest compliment, when the team looks at me that way,” he said.

Brown saw Pons as a leader from his first day around the program.

“He is a relentless worker,” Brown said. “It’s impressive to see a kid work that hard at football. And he is receptive to being that leader. His maturity level is so high. I feel like I am back at Robert Morris (coaching) a 22-year-old.”

Jackson Pons

Norwin

Senior

6-2/185

WR/DB

Committed to: Miami (Ohio)

Other Division I offers: Toledo, Navy, Army, Lafayette, Fordham, Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Columbia, Eastern Michigan, Kent State, Ohio, Gardner-Webb, Penn, Princeton, Dartmouth.

2022 statistics: Pons had 22 receptions for 348 yards and four touchdowns, and added 38 tackles and four interceptions on defense.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Norwin