A Broken Record Can Be Fixed

Football season is over. The championships have been decided, the all-league teams finalized, the most valuable players recognized.

Coaches are already making plans for next season, with 6:30 a.m. weightlifting sessions only a couple of weeks from beginning.

The college recruiting season is about to enter an intense phase, with phone calls and visits en masse.

Let’s put to rest one theory: No one from a winless high school team gets a college scholarship.

It just so happens that one of UCLA’s starting defensive tackles this season, Rodney Leisle, played on a team that went 0-10 his senior year at Ridgeview High in Bakersfield. He didn’t let that nightmarish season derail his dream of playing college football.

“If you want a scholarship, if you want to prove to people you can do it, if you want to make your family proud, it comes from inside,” he said. “You can’t give up.”

Travonne Jackson of Jefferson High didn’t give up. It has been a miserable last three months for him. His team went 1-8. He sat out three games because of a hyperextended knee. His stepfather died of cancer.

Through all the bad days, Jackson kept studying and never stopped competing.

If all goes as expected, he’ll be signing a letter of intent in February because he has a 3.7 grade-point average, runs 100 meters in 10.7 seconds and has proven he can catch passes against anyone.

“When you lose a game and keep losing, you have to keep your head up,” he said. “You have to understand tomorrow the sun will be up. You have to keep giving your all. It’s like life. Sometimes you’re going to have good days and others not. You can’t give up. You have to continue.”

Jackson wants to attend college not only to become a football player. He wants to become a doctor or Secret Service agent to honor his mother, who has taken care of him and three younger siblings.

“She wasn’t like, ‘OK, you can do this with your friends,’ ” he said. “She made me stay home and finish my homework. After a while, it became a routine. I want an education to get a good job and be able to help her.”

Playing on a losing team isn’t fun, but Jackson and his teammates faced adversity and didn’t retreat.

“It’s hard to stay together when you’re losing,” he said. “You’re not happy and you get caught up thinking about yourself. I’m proud nobody really pointed fingers. It showed me a lot of people on this team aren’t going to fail in life.”

College coaches looking for good players and good people won’t miss Jackson. And there are other players on losing teams who deserve attention.

Tight end Eric Beegun of Palisades has a 3.7 GPA and caught 20 passes for the 1-7 Dolphins. He has committed to California, which remembered his clutch receptions last season when Palisades was one of the City Section’s best passing teams.

Drew Adams was needed to play linebacker for 1-9 Lancaster when his real position is defensive end. He’s 6 feet 3, 225 pounds and had 90 tackles.

Nathan Harriman moved to Orange County from Texas this year and enrolled at Estancia in Costa Mesa. The team started 10 sophomores and went 0-9. But Harriman, a 6-1, 185-pound receiver with 4.5 speed in the 40-yard dash, is someone whose best football days are still ahead.

Albert Griffin of 1-8 Mission Hills Alemany was a marked man, whether playing tailback or safety. Unlike De’Andre Scott, who bailed out on the Indians last season when things looked bad, Griffin stayed and did his best to keep Alemany competitive. He rushed for 1,011 yards, made lots of tackles and earned respect for loyalty and toughness.

Joe Rivera was a starting quarterback and linebacker for Santa Ana Century. He played in the season opener, dislocated his knee and didn’t play again. Century finished 1-8.

He was forgotten, but the 6-1, 200-pounder is a three-year starter who, playing safety, could make a junior college coach look good.

The key for players from losing teams to gain interest from colleges is for their coaches to get the word out about their skills and academic records.

Jackson is grateful he got to play for Coach Hank Johnson, who taught him not only about football but how to act on and off the field.

“It’s not always about winning,” Jackson said. “He’s trying to make men out of us. He always says a lot of people [coach] the wrong way to win at any costs. He’s not like that. He plays by the rules.”

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Eric Sondheimer can be reached at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com