Big man off-campus: Willis' sacrifices made for memorable senior season

For three-sport athletes such as Lincoln High School's Jared Thomas "JT" Willis, the 2021 spring was an opportunity. While California was one of the last states in the country to allow high school sports during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Willis remained hopeful at home. His senior season was supposed to consist of quarterbacking the Fighting Zebra football team in the fall, being a defensive stopper for the basketball team in the winter and being a senior leader for the baseball team in the spring. Those dreams were all put on hold as the prep sports delay continued through at least January for most traditional fall sports. Football didn't get the green light for competition until mid-March, but Willis and the Zebras knew they had to make the most of their shortened season. "It was definitely crazy, for sure," Willis said. "Just not knowing if we were going to have any sports, and the next thing you know, football season is in three weeks. Then a little later, it was basketball in two weeks. Baseball was at the same time as football, so it was crazy to balance everything out but I definitely enjoyed doing it all." Despite Lincoln High School's option for students to return to campus for in-person instruction in October, Willis chose to remain in distance learning to start the spring semester. Having already been quarantined once during the fall semester, Willis wasn't willing to risk another, especially if the OK for a sports season came through. "That hurt me being out for two weeks," Willis said. "I didn't want that to happen during any of the seasons. I've put in so much time in the offseason and so did my teammates. I didn't want to let them down." Despite challenges of full-time distance learning and the abnormalities of not seeing teammates and classmates on a daily basis, Willis persevered and prepared for the possibility of a senior season. Eventually, that day came and it was time to work. There was no gradual shift in sport seasons in the 2021 spring. Almost every sport was overlapping at one point or another. It made for some busy days for Willis. "There were many days when I'd come home and just fall asleep on the couch," Willis said. "Wake up around 7 just so I'm able to get up and not be lazy for practice, eat some breakfast, maybe have a protein shake, then do classes (online)," Willis explained. "School ends around 12:30 and then I'd have an hour and a half break. Then I'd go to baseball practice and hit in the cages for about an hour and a half, then go to football practice. If football practice ended early enough, I'd go back to baseball. Once football (season) ended, it was off to basketball and trying to battle that with baseball. Basketball practice went from 2 to 3:30; then from 3:30 to 6, I had baseball practice." The long days of seemingly non-stop work paid dividends. In Lincoln's first football game against rival Placer, Willis was 20-for-28 for 244 yards and a career-high five touchdowns in the 54-41 win. Lincoln went 3-1 in the abbreviated season with the only loss coming against four-time state champion and perennial Division I powerhouse Folsom, a team Lincoln challenged on three hours' notice due to its original opponent needing to quarantine. "Going from having a game plan for (Nevada Union) with everything written on my wristband, then three hours before the game, finding out we're playing Folsom without any game plan was crazy," Willis said. "I think we showed that Lincoln wasn't such an easy win this year." Willis completed 59.3 percent of his passes for 668 yards and 10 touchdowns with a 109.6 QB rating. He missed only the first game of basketball season before averaging 4.0 points and 3.3 rebounds. The craziest day, Willis said, was on April 28 when he started in a baseball game at 4 p.m. (2-for-2 with two RBIs in a 10-7 win over Rio Linda) and then rushed to arrive at Oakmont High School five minutes before tip-off for a 7 p.m. basketball game. He played tough defense, but Lincoln ultimately lost 65-60 in overtime. A four-year varsity player for Lincoln's baseball team, Willis split time during football season contributing in 26 games on the diamond. Willis led the team in hitting (.418) and on-base percentage (.577) and delivered a walk-off single in the final at-bat of his high school career on Senior Day last Thursday against Valley Christian Academy. The team mobbed Willis after his late-game heroics. "Having the opportunity to have the game-winning RBI was an awesome way to end my baseball career with my senior teammates," Willis said. "The dogpile hurt, though." Willis was chosen for the All-Foothill Valley League baseball team after Lincoln finished 16-12 overall and 9-6 in the FVL. "To be able to be recognized with that was awesome," Willis said. "To know that the coaches and opponents I played against were worried about me means a lot, especially with some of the top talent we had in the league." Willis, who finally decided to return to campus after all sports seasons ended, is set to graduate with his 2021 classmates on Saturday. He will continue his football career at Lewis and Clark University in Oregon while studying sports management. He has interest in one day becoming a sports agent. "I'm proud of overcoming and playing three sports in such a short period of time while still getting good grades and being a good person to other people," Willis said. "I didn't let the season being pushed back affect the type of person I was. I still showed how motivated I was to other people."