MacArthur football coaches have plenty of concerns about the season opener against city rival Eisenhower, but their quarterback is not one of them.
Although senior JR Winningham is not a returning starter, Mac head coach Brett Manning's confidence level in the quarterback will be higher than the lights at Cameron Stadium when the Highlanders take the field. To Manning, Winningham is the quintessential example of what Mac needs.
Winningham will be making his first start in a Week 1 game on Friday night, but he knows what it is like to lead the team into battle. He's done it before, after all.
"He's not a returning starter, but I feel like he is," Manning said. "I feel really confident in him, and I feel good about his skill set and what we're asking him to do. He does a great job of managing the game and doing what he's good at."
Winningham took over the role as the Mac starting quarterback for the first time in 2015 against Lawton High in place of an injured Anthony Love. At the time, Winningham was a wide-eyed sophomore whose only experience came at the freshman and junior varsity levels.
Even Manning had his doubts about what Winningham could do with so little knowledge of the varsity game.
"The first week he took over, no one thought he was ready -- I didn't think he was ready," Manning said. "He got thrown out there in a city game, and everybody had the feeling that the season, not necessarily that it was over, but our chances were not very good anymore."
The differences in the crowd size and the intensity of the players was alarming to a young Winningham, but it didn't take him long to to adjust. He didn't have a choice.
On only Winningham's second play as the leading signal caller, Manning decided to take a gamble. Little did he know it would pay off in more ways than one.
"The first play – I was surprised he called it – was a double-reverse pass," Winningham recalled. "I was like, 'Please tell me he didn't call that,' but he did. I asked Teddy (Thomas), 'Did he really call that?' and he said, 'Yeah, do you know what to do?'
"'I was like, 'Of course I know what to do, let's just see how it goes.' And (Jarviear Christon) was just wide open, and I hit him."
The play resulted in a 55-yard touchdown, leading the Highlanders to a surprising 33-12 win over the Wolverines. Winningham went on to lead Mac to an undefeated regular season and a first-round playoff win.
"I was just really impressed that entire year with how he handled everything," Manning said. "Getting thrown into that position and into the limelight, and going from being a backup quarterback and nobody hardly even knowing who he was to getting interviewed after the game -- I was really impressed with his maturity and his on-field performance."
However, the fairytale run was cut short in a 44-27 loss to Collinsville in the quarterfinals. Winningham threw for 357 yards and two touchdowns on 32-of-46 passing, but two second-half interceptions allowed the Cardinals to distance themselves from the Highlanders.
Winningham said it was hard losing his first game in the playoffs, but he took the experience as a learning opportunity, and he has carried the memory of the seniors' tears with him every season since.
"That was tough; it really was," Winningham said. "You see all of the movies with people crying and stuff, and you think that'll never be me. It was a reality check, and I'm glad it happened because it's motivating me this season to never let that happen again, especially in the playoffs.
"It was tough seeing everyone crying because a lot of those guys were never going to play again. It didn't hit me until about 10 minutes after the game because right after, you're like, 'whatever.' But when I came out of that locker room, it was tough."
Fast forward nearly two years, and though Winningham is a better quarterback, this will be only his second time starting in a city game. The first was a 57-34 win over Eisenhower.
One area of the game Winningham continues to make strides in is off-the-field preparation. He admitted he's studies more film than he ever has after that playoff loss, and it has helped him in learning and understanding opposing defenses.
"You have to know the people you're playing against, and I didn't do a very good job watching film before Collinsville," Winningham said. "After that, it was just preparation. I've definitely set the mindset of put everything out there. You have to intensify the film, and you have to intensify the practices."
Manning has noticed Winningham's improvement as well.
"He's done a good job of doing what he can do and not trying to do any more," Manning said. "I feel like he's taken that role and expanded it and has become one of the leaders on our team. "He's best at sitting back in the pocket and throwing comebacks and deep balls on posts and streaks. He does a really good job of playing within himself."
Winningham had an impressive set of scrimmages the past two weeks, and he said though it's going to feel at first weird playing an actual game, he has already adopted a no-excuses mentality.
"You have to put that mindset in right now," Winningham said. "There is no if I mess up, it's not a big deal. Everyone is watching, and I don't want to mess up anything, especially against Eisenhower. Everything intensifies, and you have to lock that in right now, not right before the game."
Winningham said he and the Highlanders are ready to take on any foe, but he is particularly happy about his first Week 1 start being against Eisenhower.
Why? Because the Eagles beat his team in fifth grade, and he hasn't forgotten.
"We've had a pretty big rivalry with them since fifth grade," Winningham said. "Every one of those players we still play against. They beat us in fifth grade, and we still remember -- it really is a rivalry.
"In sixth grade, we beat them twice, and they were distraught. In seventh grade, they smacked us. We lost by six in eighth grade. We remember everything."
Although Eisenhower hasn't gotten the best of Mac since 2010, Winningham said he and his teammates know this week is different -- what happened in the past doesn't matter.
With that in mind, Winningham said he knows the Eagles will bring out the best of him, and he's looking forward to the challenge.
"I try hard for everything," Winningham said. "You're always going to have that built-up stuff to do better, but even when we're playing bad teams, I'm going to try my best because it's a job, and I'm going to do my best for anybody."