#11 Chosen as Graduation Speaker

Marcus High School selects two students who are in the Top 20 Graduates to be the Opening and Closing speakers. Jared was ranked 11th, and submitted himself for consideration and was selected to be the Closing Speaker. Watch video of the speech 02:52. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNOiuIFh-iw

Jared Recognized for Christian Lifestyle in Athletics

Jared LeBon was honored as one of 50 semi-finalists for Texas Male Christian Athlete of the Year by Lay Witnesses for Christ International, based in Hurst, Texas. The fifty semi-finalists were chosen from over 1400 nominees, and along with fifty female semi-finalists were honored at a Gala Banquet on Monday, February 16 at the DFW Airport Marriott.

Olympian of the Century Carl Lewis (left) presented Jared with his Medal and Plaque. NBC Olympics Commentator Lewis Johnson was the evening's Master of Ceremonies.

Jared has been a member of Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) at Marcus for four years, and is a member of Life Teen at St. Ann Catholic Parish in Coppell. He has been an altar server at St. Ann for six years. In 1992 he traveled with his family to the Salt Lake City Olympic Games to serve as Catholic Missionaries.

Jared Signs With Bentley University

This morning Jared took part in Marcus' Signing Day and was one of six football players to commit to play college football on National Signing Day. Jared signed his Commitment Letter to Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Jared was accompanied by his parents Paul and Susan, grandmother Theresa Crow, brother Justin LeBon, Head Coach Bryan Erwin (necktie) and RB Coach Fred Jones.

http://www.bentley.edu/

Jared commits to Bentley University

After months of conversations with numerous college coaches, Jared informed Head Coach Thom Boerman of Bentley University tonight that he was committing to play football for the Falcons beginning in Fall of 2009. Bentley is located in the Boston suburb of Waltham, and is regarded as one of the top business schools in the United States. Highland Village resident and Bentley Hall of Fame Running Back Greg Novarro who helped guide Jared toward Bentley was extremely pleased with the news.

Jared made his final visit to Bentley this past weekend and was impressed by the coaches and his future teammates. Coach Boerman, Offensive Coordinator Darin Colucci, and RB Coach Sean Walsh all had high praise for Jared's 'sting blocks' against much bigger opponents. Jared's teammate, Jr. RB Stephen Hopkins credits Jared with helping him to rush for over 1900 yards this season.
Jared has been recognized as a Presidential Scholar by Bentley and awarded a four year academic scholarship. Jared and his Marauder teammates will sign their Letters of Intent at a Signing Day event at Marcus High School on Wednesday, February 4, National Signing Day.

Jared Named All-State Academic First Team

The Texas High School Coaches Association today released it's Academic All-Star Team listings, and Jared and his teammate Landon Banister were named to the Class 5A First Team.

Jared and Landon are both ranked in the Top 10 of Marcus's Class of 2009.

Jared Named All-District

Jared was one of seventeen Marauders named to the District 6-5A All District Team. Jared was named Second Team Offense. Jared's Tailback for whom he usually blocks, Stephen Hopkins, was named All District Offensive Player of the Year.

Hero and Role Model

Saturday Susan and I were pleasantly surprised as we saw a couple in the upper deck of Texas Stadium hanging a banner on the Marcus side, a banner that read “#33 LeBon, You’re the Best!!!” Since it mentioned Mrs. Stanton’s class we assumed that there would be banners for all the Adopt-an-Athlete players who visit McAuliffe Elementary. They hung a second banner reading “Marauders = Victory”, a third that said “#33 Marauders Rock!” Then they departed.

Then the folks who hung them came to our seats to visit. Davin and Lilian Bouchillon introduced themselves and told us what an impact Jared has had on their son Austin, who is one of Jared’s A-an-A kids in Mrs. Stanton’s 3rd grade class. Austin has asthma and has never had any interest in sports – until Jared began visiting his class every Thursday morning through Marcus’ Adopt-an-Athlete Program. He’s gotten passionate about the game and wants to someday play football for Marcus!

Austin came to the Southlake game on McAuliffe night, and Friday evening at home he insisted on making the banners which his parents hung in the upper deck. They had to get an escort from security to get up there! Jared was surprised to see the banners and he plans to invite Austin and his family to our home to show him some of his sports awards collected through the years.

I’m sure many of our players have impacted their kids in similar positive ways. This was quite a manifestation of Austin’s enthusiasm!

FloMo Highlights

Here are highlights of Jared's play against cross-town rival Flower Mound in the 'Mound Showdown' at Texas Stadium on Halloween. Marcus beat FloMo 28-21 in OT. Twice Jared opened holes that resulted in rushing TDs, including Stephen Hopkins' OT game winner.

Coppell Video Highlights

I realize I'm a bit behind, what with illness, work, and travel. Here are some highlights of Jared's play againts Coppell on 10/24.

Booming Blocks in Mound Showdown OT Win

The Marauders defeated cross town rival Flower Mound Jaguars 28-21 in OT last night in a game played at Texas Stadium to win the Mound Showdown and reclaim the Mound Trophy.

Jared had no touches but numerous critical blocks. Most important were two blocks in the OT - a lead block to help QB Brad L'Huillier scramble for 1st down, and then a block at the 1 yard line that opened the hole for Stephen Hopkins to score the winning TD.

Jared and his teammates - (left to right) defensive standouts Dylan Blount and Jameson Holt and QB Brad L'Huillier - pose with the Mound Trophy.

Three Key Carries in Win Over Coppell

The Marauders defeated the Coppell Cowboys on Friday, October 24. Jared had three carries of 2 yards, capturing two first downs for the Marauders in a game telecast by Channel 21.

Jared also had his usual outstanding night throwing blocks and opening holes for Stephen Hopkins.

SLC - Video Highlights

Here are video highlights of Jared's play against Southlake Carroll:

Jared Helps Power Record-setting Night

Last night the Marauders lost a nail-biter to nationally ranked Southlake Carroll when the Dragons broke a 35-35 tie with 15 seconds remaining.

While Jared had no touches last night, his blocking was critical in helping Junior RB Stephen Hopkins set a Marcus rushing record with 313 yards, including TD runs of 58, 71, 64, and 1 yards. Stephen acknowledged that after the game.

Check back for the highlight film on Tuesday.

Happy 18th birthday to Jared!

Axe Game Video Highlights

Here are Jared's highlights from the battle of the Axe at Texas Stadium.

Battle of the Axe 28-14 Marcus!

Jared and his Marauder teammates were successful in their defense of 'The Axe' against the Lewisville Fighting Farmers and Friday night before 24,324 at Texas Stadium in Irving.

Jared had a strong blocking game, opening up holes for RB Stephen Hopkins who ran for 212 yeards and carried in all four Marauder TDs. Jared had two carries for 15 yards.

Jared poses with the Axe with his close friend OL Josh LaPorte.

Laser Focus

Jared and his teammates were in meetings at 7:00 am Monday morning, and will continue to do so all week, while their 2:30 afternoon practices are running into the early evening in preparation for District play. With only six teams in the District, there is little room for error if a team hopes to make the playoffs.

District play commences this Friday night with the 'Battle of the Ax', an annual game which will be played for the 21st time against cross-town rival Lewisville Fighting Farmers. It will be the last time the game is played at storied Texas Stadium, which will fall to the wrecking ball after the end of the Dallas Cowboys' season.

Making Good Use of the Bye Week

We traveled to New England for Friday and Saturday visits to schools and coaches. We were graciously received and appreciate the warm hospitality of the coaches at Bentley College, Brown University, and St. Anselm College.

We also got to take in the Assumption-Bentley game Friday night, and the Brown-URI game on Saturday. The Brown-URI game is the unofficial college state championship in Rhode Island, known as the Governor's Cup, and Jared got to visit with Brown alumnus and gridiron legend Don Carcieri, current Governor of the State of Rhode Island.

Now Jared heads home and he and his teammates get down to business as they prepare to start district play facing cross-town rival Lewisville Fighting Farmers in the battle of the Ax, Friday night at Texas Stadium.

Highlight DVDs - Mailed 10/3

By mid-week DVDs with highlights of Jared's first five games will be in the mail to recruiting coaches. Thank you for your comments and emails.

UPDATE! DVDs were mailed to recruiting coaches on Friday, October 3. We welcome your feedback.

17-13 Defeat

The Marauders lost a tough one Friday night against Tyler's Robert E. Lee High School in an evening that saw Redneck fans shouting obscenities in unison at Marcus players along with racial taunts.

For the third time this season, Marcus' defeat was brought about by a costly error. After two losses due to TDs scored on turnovers from bad snaps, this week a 41 yard pass play that brought the Marauders to the Red Raiders 9 went for naught when an interception was run back to midfield, leading to an ensuing Lee TD.

Jared has a strong performance on offense taking out defenders with his cut blocks and opening holes for Stephen Hopkins. Jared had one run for a one yard gain, and missed the last five plays of the game after coming out to ice his neck after a 'stinger'.

Last Non-District Game

The Marauders travel 125 miles to East Texas tonight to play Tyler Lee in their 5th and last Non-District game, and the last long haul road trip.

Next week we have a Bye, then the 5 district games begin with the 'Battle of the Axe' against cross-town rival Lewisville. This game is annually played at Texas Stadium due to the large turnout - last year there were 23,000 at the game. This year being the last Axe game before Texas Stadium falls to the wrecking ball, attendance is expected to come close to 30,000.

We also play Flower Mound at Texas Stadium, play Southlake and Hebron home at Max Goldsmith Stadium, and play Coppell at their Buddy Echols Stadium.

Close loss to Katy - 17-14

The Marauders traveled 120 miles to Waco yesterday to play a non-district game against defending State 5A Champion Katy, which is located another 180 miles to the south. Though Katy came into the game 0-2, their community was hit by Hurricane Ike and since there was no school all week, the football team practiced 3 times a day.

Jared had no carries, and one pass thrown under pressure sailed over his head. Jared did manage to continue his aggressive cut blocking, taking out his man on most plays, however Katy's multi-man rush was intense and held stellar RB Stephen Hopkins to 49 yards on 16 carries!

(Click arrow to view video highlight)

Media Coverage

Jared was featured twice in the Dallas Morning News HS Game Time insert this week for his play against Keller Fossil Ridge; his post TD celebratatory yell while helmetless, and as one of the three Marauders who teamed up to score 7 TDs.

The Flower Mound Leader listed Jared as a Player to Watch for Saturday's game against Katy at Waco ISD Stadium: Jared LeBon, FB; has helped RB Stephen Hopkins rush for nearly 500 yards.

2 TDs vs. Keller Fossil Ridge - 49-28

Jared has a great night in Marcus' 49-28 win over Keller Fossil Ridge Panthers. He continued his outstanding blocking opening up holes for TB Stephen Hopkins who rushed 25 for 207 with 3 TDs.
The first play of the game was a 13 yard pass to Jared. Jared rushed 6 for 19, and scored two TDs on 3 yard runs. As he battled through the scrum on his first TD, a Panther tore his helmet off, but he had an easier go for the second TD as his O-line opened a hole.

MHS vs. Plano West 9/05 - 27-23 loss

The Marauders lost to the Plano West Wolves Friday evening after a bad punt snap gave the Wolves possession at the MHS 30 and they scored with 1:17 remaining. A Marauder comeback attempt failed as time expired after getting down to the West 30.
Jared continues his aggressive blocking for our two Tailbacks Stephen Hopkins and Degan Newsome with his cut blocks, neutralizing Plano defenders. Jared again opened the lane twice inside the 10 yard line giving Stephen a route to two TDs.
Jared has two rushing plays for gains of 7 and 3 yards, and one pass reception for a gain of 15 yards.

MHS vs. Grapevine 8/29 - 55-3 victory

The Marauders soundly defeated the Grapevine Mustangs in their non-district season opener. Jared made several critical blocks and twice opened the lane for RB Stephen Hopkins to run into the end zone for TDs - a two yarder and a nine yarder where Stephen's hand was on Jared's back as Jared led Stephen through the defense. Jared had one rushing play for a gain of 5 yards.