The climb: Althoff’s Jordan Augustine shakes off two ACL surgeries, comes back to win Football Player of the Year honor

One of the largest hills near the city of Waterloo can be found at Lakeview Park near the water works just outside of town.

While growing up, Althoff High senior quarterback Jordan Augustine spent hundreds of hours sprinting that hill as part of his training process. He began at age 12 and was still sprinting up the slope last summer three or four days a week.

It helped him become close with his father, Jim Augustine. It also was a great conditioning tool and it showed him the value of hard work.

Augustine’s high school football climb fell just short of the summit this season as previously unbeaten Althoff lost 51-7 to Chicago Phillips in the Class 4A state championship game in DeKalb.

However, area coaches took notice of Augustine’s record-setting season and were near unanimous in voting him the Belleville News-Democrat’s Small-School (Class 1A-4A) Football Player of the Year.

“It’s starting to settle in that we had a great season, but it’s still pretty sour we didn’t get to finish the way we wanted to,” Augustine said. “It was the greatest season of my life. When the offense was doing exactly what we wanted ... beating up on teams, scoring a bunch of points ... that was as fun as it gets really.

“We had a really good year and it was all a lot of fun. It just didn’t end the way we wanted it to.”

Augustine’s 3,720 yards and 40 touchdowns both were new single-season records at Althoff and were among the highest totals in Illinois High School Association history. The yardage ranks 11th all-time and the 40 TD passes are tied for 18th.

Off-the-charts numbers

The 6-foot-2, 180-pound senior shook off two previous ACL surgeries and spent the season conducting surgical strikes that shredded opposing defenses and racked up an incredible amount of points.

He completed 232-of-330 passes — an incredible 70.3 percent completion rate — while taking advantage of Althoff’s first season with two 1,000-yard receivers and two 1,000-yard running backs.

“He just improved so much this year to do what no other quarterback has done in one year at this school,” Althoff coach Ken Turner said.” We were talking about it already after Week 3, how crazy that is for a guy’s completion rate to be that high. I think 60 to 65 percent is good but 70 percent?

“It’s crazy and it’s a tribute to him getting rid of the ball quick, being pretty accurate and those receivers going to get it for him.”

Throwing for 418 yards in the first half against Mater Dei? Check. Completing 25-of-30 passes for 537 yards and five TDs in a 68-48 win over Mater Dei? Check. Tossing six TD passes in a playoff win at Quincy Notre Dame? Check.

It was that type of season for Augustine.

Two of Althoff’s four receivers, senior Keenen Young (78 catches, 1,189 yards, 17 TDs) and junior C.J. Coldon (64 catches, 1,347 yards, 17 TDs), were first-team All-Area receivers. Junior Jaylon Bester (1,246 yards, 21 TDs) was a first-team All-Area running back.

Receivers Jordan Goodwin and Tarkus Ferguson and running back Malik Easley all were voted to the All-Area team as well.

“All I had to do was get them and ball, sometimes they’d do a lot of the work themselves,” Augustine said. “Give them the ball and let them play with it in space. They made plays for us all year.”

So did Augustine, who made a big leap in progress from his junior season when there were times he appeared unsure of himself.

“All of those guys on offense were the same ones he had last year,” Turner said. “It was his inner self and his inner confidence. It wasn’t just him, it was the whole offense. They had another year under their belt and they were all pretty confident and pretty smart with what they were doing.

“(Jordan) understood what we were trying to teach and coach and he just took it to another level.”

Magical moment

Augustine’s favorite moment this season was beating five-time defending state champion Rochester 46-42 in one of the wildest games ever played at jam-packed Lindenwood Stadium.

“Lindenwood Stadium was literally full to the brim and we were down 20-7,” Augustine said. “We were the underdogs and no one gave us a chance to beat them. What that clock hit zero it was like ‘Wow, we just did what we’ve been waiting to do from the very first day of practice.

“That’s a moment I’ll probably never forget in my life.”

In two years as a starter, Augustine threw for 5,419 yards and 54 touchdowns with 18 interceptions. Throwing for nearly 4,000 yards as a senior wasn’t something that Augustine believed was even possible.

“Before the season, people were talking about things like you might be able to reach 2,000 (yards),” Augustine said. “To go out and throw for 3,700, that’s like a miracle. It was great, really fun.”

Ranked eighth in a class of 100 with a 3.95 grade-point average and 27 score on his ACT test, Augustine has enhanced his chances of continuing his career in college. Right now mostly Division II schools have shown interest as Augustine named McKendree, Western Missouri State, Central Missouri State and Missouri A & T among those he is considering.

“Whoever gives him a shot is going to have really good quarterback that’s going to get the job done,” Turner said. “He makes all the throws and he’s a really good athlete that can run.”

Turner pointed to a pass play from Augustine to Goodwin as proof of his quarterback’s maturation and confidence.

Rochester sent a strong blitz up the middle on a play in which Augustine was to deliver a bootleg pass.

“He went through his reads within a half-second and threw a line drive to Goody and Goody broke it off 20 or 30 yards,” Turner said. “That ended being a huge play. I was like no way we’re going ot be able to pick (the blitz) up. He faked and threw the ball in a half-second.

“That’s the kind of play that he wouldn’t have been able to make last year.”

In the state championship game, Phillips used its physical strength up front and Division I recruit Amir Watts in particular to generate all kinds of heat on the offensive line and Augustine.

Althoff scored on its first drive and had some early success through the air, but never dented the end zone again.

“We knew what we could do if we got time,” Augustine said. “It happened like I was expecting it to to happen the first drive, but the defensive pressure after that ... that pass rush was crazy.

“(Watts) is about as good of a player as I’ve seen in high school. His combination of speed and strength made him tough to block.”

Co-Coaches of the Year

Area coaches voted Turner and Nashville coach Tim Kuhn Co-Coaches of the Year.

Turner has guided Althoff to a pair of runner-up finishes in the state finals, in 4A this season and in 2A in 2012. The Crusaders are 38-13 in the last four years and 56-33 overall during Turner’s eight seasons.

Kuhn helped lead the Nashville Hornets (9-4) to the Class 2A semifinals this season, losing 22-6 to Auburn.

This story was originally published December 12, 2015 at 7:00 AM with the headline "The climb: Althoff’s Jordan Augustine shakes off two ACL surgeries, comes back to win Football Player of the Year honor."