Woodford County Coach Dennis Johnson Previews Kroger KSR Game of the Week

“We’re excited about our progress and our process. We hope we aren’t playing our best football right now because we want to continue to get better,” Woodford County head coach and former Kentucky Wildcat Dennis Johnson said.

Woodford County sits at a perfect 5-0 this season and is off to their best start in over 20 years. They’ll host the Kroger KSR Game of the Week this Friday against West Jessamine (3-2) at home.

Johnson feels as though his team has taken the necessary steps on and off the field to put them in a position to become successful this year.

“Our kids have worked extremely hard in the offseason,” Johnson said on the Kentucky High School Sports Podcast with Troy Howell. “This has kind of been a buildup over the last two or three years. We’ve kind of gained some ground with a good offseason. Also, the kids went to some camps and they’re doing a lot of extra work off the field, so I think that’s kind of brought us to this point. We’ve played good football early this season and now the kids have bought in.”

Defeating Franklin County 24-21

“Our community is very excited,” Johnson said. “We played our first two games on the road so we travel really, really … Franklin County beat us 13 years in a row. They’re kind of our rivals, so people were excited to see us play.”

Franklin County has dropped to 3-3 this season after making the 2020 4A State Championship. Johnson doesn’t see their victory stemming from the Flyer’s negative season, but from the roll Woodford County is on at the moment.

“We play a physical brand of football,” Johnson said. His Yellow Jackets rushed for 250 yards in the victory. His defense also totaled over 60 tackles on the game with 3.5 sacks and six TFL’s.

Another reason why Johnson’s squad has improved the way they have comes from one of the most important aspects of any sport—chemistry.

“My dad coached for 30 years,” Johnson said. “He always says you need to understand your players. We’ve never been in this position before so that’s the one thing I try to stress to them every day. Easy come, easy go, so we’ve got to go to work every single day.”

Their undefeated record and victory over notable opponents has come with a target on their back. That’s something Johnson has yet to get used to. “As a coach I would much rather being under the radar than be getting the high praise we’re getting right now,” he said.

Woodford County vs. West Jessamine

“It all runs through Jacob (Jones) and he’s a phenomenal quarterback,” Johnson said. Jones is one of the top dual-threat quarterbacks in KHSAA this season with 1,296 all-purpose yards and 17 total touchdowns. He also holds an offer from Kentucky.

Kentucky fans will remember his father, Pookie Jones, who led Kentucky to the 1993 Peach Bowl as a quarterback. He also won 1989 Mr. Football at Calloway County and even played some minor league baseball. To say his son has been surrounded by great football minds his entire life is an understatement.

“(Jones) has a quick release, they run a lot of RPO’s and this year, they’ve run the ball a lot more—so that’s one thing we have to prepare for,” Johnson said. 

Jones has rushed for 296 rushing yards this season. The versatility he brings to the game is something teams need to spend the entire week preparing solely for. The only downside of doing that is the fact that the Colts have more offensive weapons than just him.

“He’s probably the best quarterback we’ve played up with this point,” Johnson said. “But he’s very, very polished and has some good receivers outside (and) a decent running back. We were off last week, coming out the BYE week, you never know how your team’s going to play after, so we’ve tried to practice at a fast pace this week just to try to get prepared for (Jones).”

Colts wide receivers Ernest Stanfield and Dalton Carter have combined for 832 of Jones’ 1,000 passing yards. Running back Bryce Chestnut also has 88 carries for 392 yards and five touchdowns as well—they can’t just keep their eyes on one player. Johnson believes, however, that Woodford County will be ready for anything West Jessamine throws at them.

“We’ve got to keep this train rolling. Like I said, I think the guys are excited because we’ve never never been in this position,” Johnson said. “We’ve been at it for five or six years, so the kids are excited, the community’s excited, so we just got to got to keep rolling.”

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