Most high school kids hang out at lunch and socialize with their friends while they eat, but junior quarterback Jack Elliott has a different routine down pat at Mount Carmel.
He’ll head down to coach Jordan Lynch’s office and watch film. And sure, he’ll eat his lunch, but the point is to seize another opportunity to get better.
The payoff comes on game day.
“He has total grasp of the offense,” Lynch said of Elliott. “He’s a winner. He’s the guy who gets us going offensively.”
And how. Elliott — who doesn’t play much in the way of video games — put up All-Madden Team numbers in the first half Friday night to lead the sixth-seeded Caravan to a convincing 49-15 win over 11th-seeded Prospect in the second round of the Class 7A playoffs.
How dominant was Elliott? He completed 6 of 9 passes for 151 yards and four touchdowns in the first half. He also ran for a 37 yard TD, efforts that resulted in a running clock.
“I don’t want this to be over,” Elliott said. “I had to do everything for the seniors and give it my best effort all the time.”
But it didn’t start out that way Friday for the 6-foot, 205-pound Elliott and Mount Carmel (10-1). He fumbled on the second play of the game, which was returned for a 63-yard TD.
Did that faze Elliott or Lynch? Nope.
On the Caravan’s ensuing drive, Elliott connected with senior receiver Darrion Gilliam for a 17-yard TD. That was only the beginning.
The TD passes came in droves — 68 yards to Alonzo Manning and 22 yards to Kevin Gardner. And after his 37-yard rushing TD, Elliott hit Gilliam again for 32 yards. It made the second half academic for Prospect (8-3).
Elliott’s film study, however, began last year, when he was the backup to the graduated Blainey Dowling. The pair would go to Lynch’s office and do the same thing.
Watch and eat.
“It was rough at the start of summer … obviously I’m a competitor, so I’m trying to take his job,” Elliott said of his relationship with Dowling. “Honestly, in the back of my mind, it’s his team, he’s a senior, so I’m just pushing him to be better.
“We kind of bonded throughout that and developed a really close relationship, on and off the field. Just showing me the ropes of the team and watching film.”
Dowling is now at Eastern Illinois, but his legacy lives on in Elliott, who started in football as a first grader, playing nose guard of all positions.
One day, in second grade, his youth coach told him to throw a pass.
“I threw it to him, and he was like, ‘OK, you’re our quarterback,'” Elliott said.
The shoe fit, and now Elliott is in a position to lead the Caravan back to the Class 7A state championship game, which the Caravan won 44-20 over Batavia last year with Dowling at the helm.
According to his teammates, especially senior defensive back Charles Miles Jr., Elliott has plenty of poise.
“He followed around Blainey last year, and I knew Jack was going to step up this year,” said Miles, who had an interception return for a TD in the first quarter Friday night. “He’s young, and he’s a great quarterback.
“It seems like he’s a senior.”
As far as leadership goes, Elliott realizes where he stands.
“We have a lot of senior leaders,” Elliott said. “My job as a junior is to listen and learn and pick up on what they said.”
That leadership could take him back to the state finals and beyond. He recently received Division I offers from Akron and Kent State.
“I call myself a leader,” he said. “I think others would, too.”
Gregg Voss is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.