[Baltimore Sun] Annapolis football owes 5-1 start to ‘Coach JC,’ its offensive coordinator who died in August
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Annapolis football’s grief for “Coach JC” – Jamison Carter Scott – comes in stages.
It pauses when they smile, trading stories of their commanding offensive coordinator who knew how to crack a joke.
It crashes like lead when they remember the days after Aug. 4, and where they were when someone else broke the news Scott had died suddenly at 38.
It burns when they remember Scott kept telling them they could do it: win a lot of games, beat the best teams in the county, even make a shot at states if they wanted to.
“And look where we are,” senior center Kyonte Brown-Siscoe said. “5-1.”
During their Week 2 home game against Glen Burnie, the Panthers marked their helmets with “JC” initials and sealed a brick with his name beneath the plaque honoring the 1978 state championship team — the only one in school history. Back then, the Panthers were state tournament regulars and kings in Anne Arundel County.
In 17 years of coaching alongside Scott for Annapolis Crusaders and Peninsula Athletic League youth football, Annapolis head coach Dewayne Hunt said it was always their dream to lead the Panthers back to those glory days.
“Now, any person who walks through the stadium will always see JC’s name under that state title stone,” Hunt said. “So he’ll never be forgotten.”
The players came up with the idea to incorporate Scott into their “war cry,” too. The “Panther Drill” now ends with “4-5-6 JC!”
It’s not just for them, senior left guard Chris Smotherman said. Scott, a 2004 Annapolis grad and Morgan State lacrosse player, served low-income kids around the city. His murals, depicting local and national figures, decorate walls in Annapolis.
“He meant a lot to a lot of people because he did a lot for a lot of people,” Smotherman said. “For me, it’s important we do this for the community to honor him and do it well.”
Annapolis coach Dewayne Hunt stands in front of a mural of “Buckwheat” at Pinky’s on West Street that Jamison Carter Scott helped paint. (Katherine Fominykh/Staff photo)
Brown-Siscoe laughs when he thinks of his first encounters with Scott. The then-incoming freshman admittedly wasn’t “up to date” on how to be an offensive lineman. Scott made sure he was.
“He was very passionate about what you did and how you did it. If you didn’t do something right, he’d make sure to correct you but made sure you did it so you understood it,” the senior center said.
Scott’s lessons stuck so well because of his delivery — couched in jokes.
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“He’d have this one where if you were blocking someone too high, he’d yell ‘You ever see someone run without his legs?’ ‘No coach,’ because obviously you hadn’t,” Smotherman said. “Then he’d say, ‘Then hit him in his hip!’ It’s serious piece of advice, but he always made it a little bit funny.”
Scott’s advice takes new life every week on the Annapolis offensive line. Credit is duly given to Tyler Womack, who leads the state in rushing yards, but even the best running back struggles to break free without his offensive line. For the last few years, Annapolis’ line labored to come off the ball low and keep tight, but now, Scott’s teachings are clicking into place, Smotherman said. Brown-Siscoe struggled to work through one play at a time, but for Scott’s sake, he’s truly trying this fall.
“Every time I hear a play, I think of a rule he put into place,” junior left tackle Zach Boyd said, “and it really helps me stay focused. Whenever I feel like quitting, I think about someone else who should be on this field but can’t.”
With 1,209 yards through six weeks and an average of 201.5 a game, Womack is expected to surpass 2,000 by the postseason. He wouldn’t have been able to do it without Scott’s voice in his head.
“He put trust in me,” Womack said, “so I learned how to have trust in myself.”
When football season ended for the Annapolis players, Scott’s presence would not. Smotherman recalled hearing Scott barking to push up on his knuckles during his wrestling warmups. Scott, who used to throw shot put in high school, would give tips to Brown-Siscoe in the throwing circle in the spring.
“He’d just check on me and check how my life’s going,” Brown-Siscoe said. “He’d made sure the players were OK, not just on the football field, but outside.”
In August, players found out in pieces — texts, calls from each other with bits of information. Most couldn’t believe it was true. Nothing seemed wrong, they agreed. Scott radiated life.
Senior wide receiver Cyrus Chambers ran to his aunt for a hug. She told him: “Do this season for him.”
Annapolis football coaches Dewayne Hunt, left, and Jamison Carter Scott are shown together coaching a game last season. Scott, the Panthers’ offensive coordinator, died in August. (Courtesy photo)
“I knew immediately,” he said, “that’s what I was gonna do.”
Sitting in the cafeteria the next day, the team agreed this season was for “JC.”
Annapolis football has not beaten Broadneck since 2016. The Bruins are 6-0 and working on returning to the 4A state final, which they made last year about a month after beating Annapolis by a touchdown.
Last fall, Old Mill rolled past the Panthers. On Sept. 6, Annapolis slammed the Patriots back, 40-20 — the program’s first triumph over Old Mill in at least 20 years.
“That game wasn’t just about ending a long losing record against them. It was about ‘JC,’” Brown-Siscoe said. “We’re gonna come out of the Broadneck game the same way. Last year, it was close. This year, it won’t be. He’s gonna be pushing us.”
Annapolis is aiming to make it to the Class 4A state tournament for the first time since 2016. Last fall, injuries piled up and the Panthers lost in the first round of the East regional playoffs to Dundalk, 54-27.
Scott liked to ask seniors how many games they had left throughout the season. For Scott, that loss was his last.
“His point of that was to make sure everything counts,” Hunt said. “You never know when it’ll be your last. I always remember that.”
Have a news tip? Contact Katherine Fominykh at kfominykh@baltsun.com or x.com/katfominykh.
The team has placed JC stickers on the backs of their helmets to honor their late coach. Annapolis High School assistant football coach Jamison Carter Scott, who died suddenly Aug. 4 at a young age, is remembered by his team who is having success playing this season in his honor. (Paul W. Gillespie/Staff)
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