Catchword: Owens

Because he is nimble, so fleet of foot, Jerry Owens must learn to be patient.

Because his hands are soft, so adept at catching a football, he must think about all the passes that won’t be thrown his way.

All of this because Owens ranks as one of the top high school receivers in the nation. That makes the Hart High senior a marked man this season.

“I know a lot of teams will be keying on me,” he said.

Listen to Coach Jeff Engilman, whose Sylmar squad will play Hart in a few weeks.

“We’ll have some kind of special defense,” Engilman said. “Maybe pray a lot.”

Owens expects to face more than Hail Marys and Our Fathers.

“There’s going to be a lot of double- and triple-coverage,” he said. “I’ll just have to take what I can get.”

This is the price he pays for putting up stellar numbers in his junior season. The 6-foot-3, 180-pound receiver caught 63 passes for 1,423 yards and 18 touchdowns while providing enough spectacular plays to fill a highlight reel.

Against Canyon in a Foothill League opener, Owens caught scored on pass plays of 51, 43 and 34 yards.

Against Loyola, he set a school record with 275 yards receiving.

Even as Hart was being drubbed, 35-10, by Peninsula in a Southern Section Division II semifinal, Owens provided a bright spot with a leaping, 30-yard touchdown catch.

“A big-play player,” Hart Coach Mike Herrington said. “He came up with the plays that we needed.”

This summer, SuperPrep magazine rated Owens the 15th-best wide receiver in the nation, quoting one college recruiting coordinator as saying he “is intelligent, runs good routes and catches well.”

But there are some doubts about his speed and another recruiter called him “Overrated. Good but not great.”

If Owens is to prove otherwise, if he is to match last year’s gaudy numbers, he must do so against defenses stacked against him.

Herrington hopes to make things easier with a supporting cast that includes junior Jared Bazar, perhaps the most-improved receiver in the region, and a new starting quarterback, strong-armed Kyle Boller.

“We’re not putting all the pressure on [Owens] as far as our passing game goes,” Herrington said.

Owens is doing his part by adopting a methodical approach.

“I have to let the game come to me,” he said.

That means devoting the first few offensive series of each game to studying his opponent.

If the cornerback is short, Owens will go back to the huddle and ask for pass routes that allow him to jump for high balls. If the cornerback is big, attack him with quick ins and outs.

And if the cornerback is getting help from linebackers and safeties, Owens must be content with playing the role of the decoy--at least some of the time.

“I’ll do whatever it takes,” he said. “If I can take two or three defenders with me, that’s good for the rest of the team.”

But Owens believes he can beat any defense, eventually. He expects to catch most passes thrown his way.

All summer, he and Boller have been meeting at a park, running routes, dreaming of what they might do in the coming weeks. It is a reunion of boyhood friends who teamed up in flag football in elementary school.

“Kyle has a real good arm,” Owens said. “He throws such nice spirals.”

The receiver is thinking about taking what he can get.

“Back in fifth grade, we would throw long on every play.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Sneak Peek

Fourth in a nine-part series. Today:

Aug. 27: Quarterbacks. Kyle Boller of Hart

Aug 28: Manuel White of Valencia

Tight ends: Mike Seidman of Westlake

Sunday: Wide receivers. Jerry Owens of Hart

Wednesday: Offensive linemen. Tony Sanchez of Sylmar

Thursday: Defensive linemen. Carl Cannon of Taft

Friday: Linebackers. Jorge Tapia of Hueneme

Sept. 5: Defensive backs. Corey Neal of Sylmar

Sept. 6: Kickers. Jason Geisler of Camarillo