On a Sunday in late January, with a steady flow of rain coming down, Carlsbad resident and Maranatha Christian junior quarterback Jake Locker dropped back in three quick steps and rolled out right before firing a pass to a receiver on the near sideline.
His navy blue Marantha shirt wet through with sweat and his hair caked with moisture.
Rain or shine, every seven days or so, Locker drives 90 minutes to get out on a high school field in north Los Angeles to work with Danny Hernandez – often called a quarterback guru in football circles.
“We ended up canceling the session a little bit earlier because it got so hard,” Locker told the Coast News. “[Hernandez] had a great mindset: ‘You aren’t going to be in San Diego forever; you are playing away games. You have to get used to it.’ I took his feedback, gripped the ball a little bit looser and was able to excel in the rain.”
Locker throws maybe twice a week in the offseason. The rest of the week is devoted to repetitious bodywork, improving mechanics, strength and speed.
“I focus on the physical side every day,” Locker said. “I’ll be sore on some body parts and then I’ll be working on every other muscle in my body. My goal is 11.5 (seconds) in the 100-meter dash. I don’t throw often, but it’s the details that go into it. Every single day I am putting in towel work; going through the motions; perfecting my form; I am never perfect.”
In addition to seven-on-seven practice at Marantha, Locker recently started working with former NFL quarterback and college All-American Akili Smith at SDSU, joining a small group of the county’s best high school quarterbacks.
“[Akili] brings me through all the realistic movements; the finest details within a game,” Locker said. “We work on all types of throws that we may do in a game or at the next level – RPO work; making your reads on time; footwork.”
“His work ethic is as good as it gets,” Marantha senior tight end JD Class added. “He’s ready to work on anything he needs to and pushes himself on the field and in the weight room.”
In only eight games this past season, after transferring in from Del Norte in week four, Locker set the Marantha stat sheet ablaze, establishing new program records in passing yards (1,911) and touchdowns (27).
With Locker, the Eagles improved to 8-4 after back-to-back five-win seasons.
“He did an unbelievable job coming in and being a great teammate,” said Marantha head coach Nick Novak. “He hit the ground running. His work ethic is unmatched. It makes it easy on a coach when you get a student-athlete like Jake.”
In a five-touchdown performance against O’Farrell Charter School, Locker threw his best pass of the season, a 37-yard touchdown to receiver Hudson Heinrichs off a play action. The call ‘Fake 31 Z Post Y Cross X Post Sit’ is a favorite of Locker’s.
“You read the safety in the middle if it’s single high,” Locker said. “He should come down on the run fake and you just launch that post. If not, the corner usually runs that post, and the cross is open. If all else fails, there’s a post curl third read. One of those guys is open if you time up your feet. I love it.”
“It was perfectly right over the shoulder where it needed to be,” Class said.
His accuracy and timing, according to teammates and staff, are his biggest attributes as a thrower.
“I ran a seam from the middle of the field and the ball was there right when my hands went up and it was perfect and exactly where it needed to be,” Class said. “He didn’t wait too long or lead me into a safety.”
“He is a very accurate passer, even when he gets less than two-seconds to get it off,” Novak added. “He’s a pass first run second guy.”
The Marantha season ended with a 20-8 second-round loss to eventual San Diego Section Division V-AA champion Calipatria.
Two months removed, Locker’s three playoff interceptions still gnaw at him.
“I felt pretty confident during the season.” Locker said. “Playoffs came and we were at a size disadvantage. That whole game I wasn’t playing to my best ability. I didn’t take enough risks. I should have played a little more free. I didn’t come out with the right mindset.”
Going into his senior year, Locker said risk-taking and extending plays are his developmental focus.
“I could have extended plays a little more because I am an athlete and I need to use that part of my game,” Locker said. “The mental part is I want to be too perfect and I care too much. I have to be willing to throw that pick to throw another touchdown.”
“Those throws that you see — back shoulder throws — take a lot of trust and reps and practice working with your receivers,” added Novak, who played five seasons with the Chargers and another five bouncing around the NFL as a kicker. “It’s the type of relationship you saw with Philip Rivers and Antonio Gates. He will be able to do that next season because of the buy-in and preparation for what they are doing seven-on-seven. There is a consistency of showing up and a sense of urgency. That’s all it takes.”
Probably a bit overlooked in the county among the pantheon of high school quarterbacks playing at bigger schools, Locker’s goal is Division I college football.
This offseason, SDSU and Cornell have shown an interest.
“As long as I know how good I am I don’t get affected by ratings,” Locker said. “I have one more year to turn some heads and get the right coaches looking at me.”
“Colleges may overlook guys at our level because we aren’t playing against DI athletes,” Novak added. “If I can play 10-years in the NFL he can play college football at a DI program. He could play for any [high school] in the county.”
