When Jaden Mann transferred from Leake County to Sebastopol, it was like manna from Heaven for head coach Nick Mooney.
Mann capped off an outstanding two-year career with the Bobcats when he signed to play football at East Central Community College on Wednesday.
Mann led the Bobcats to a 10-3 record this past season and the Class 1A playoffs. Mann was 114-of-198 passing for 2,217 yards and 25 TDs and he also rushed for 787 yards and eight TDS. Mann was also selected as a first-team Class 1A all-state selection.
Mann, who is 6-foot-2 and 175 pounds, signed with East Central as a quarterback, making it two straight years that the Bobcats have had a player sign to play college football. Mooney said Mann is also the first Bobcat to sign as quarterback in 60 years.
“I told the kids, we want this to be a yearly tradition,” Mooney said. “Last year, was the first guy in 20 years, and now we have back-to-back guys sign. Jaden is the first quarterback to sign since 1961. They have had some quarterbacks that went on to play ball but not at quarterback. I’m going to go out on a limb and say the guy in 1961 didn’t throw it a lot. We hope next year, we feel like we will have some guys next year. Our goal now is to get multiple guys to sign in a year. I’m just super proud of him.”
Mann threw for 1,153 yards as a junior, giving him 3,370 yards and 37 touchdowns in his two years at Sebastopol.
“He came here as a junior and move in from Leake County,” Mooney said. "He is by far the best player I have ever had move in. Usually, the transfers don’t turn out to be that great but he has been phenomenal. The biggest thing is he is a great kid and very receptive of everything that we ask him to do. He wants to be coached and wants to be better. It’s just fun to coach kids like that. He has a lot of natural ability.”
Mooney said he told East Central head coach Ken Karcher that he was not only getting a good football player but an outstanding person. Mooney said he also thought Karcher would be a good fit for Mann.
“He is still raw and coach (Ken) Karcher will be great for him,” Mooney said. “I told coach Karcher when he called that Jaden had as much ability as anybody I had ever coached and I’ve been at some bigger schools. He throws the deep ball better than anybody than I have ever seen. He will compete to play there. He has some mechanics that he has to work on and some footwork things, but he has been fun to watch.”
While Mann has been a standout on the field, Mooney said it’s the other things that shine about his star quarterback.
“More than anything, he is a positive role model in everything that he does,” Mooney said. “You don’t ever have to worry about what Jaden is doing. He is always doing what is right and anytime you get a blessing as a coach like that, it makes it easy. The last two guys have both been like that. Reggie was a 4.0 student and J.D. will be a 3.9 something. But more than grades and football players, they are good people.”
Mann said he had interest from other colleges but East Central was the only one to offer him as a quarterback.
“It means a lot to get this opportunity,” Mann said. “They were the only ones that were recruiting me as a quarterback and told me that I will have to opportunity to come in and fight for a starting job. Not everybody gets this opportunity to play college football. I get to keep going and keep working and keep getting better and hopefully make it to the next level.”
Mann said he is unsure about a major in college but is considering business administration or sports medicine.
