When the Winona Tigers needed a yard last year, you could be sure they were running behind right tackle Jakob Welch.
That’s why Welch was selected as one of Top 10 Players to Watch for the 2018 football season.
This is the first of 10 installments of the Winona Times/The Conservative Top 10 Players to Watch for 2018. Each area high school head football coach was asked to nominate players for the honor. The players were chosen by the Times/Conservative sports staff and will be revealed one week at a time.
Welch enters his senior year at Winona with hopes of guiding the Tigers back to the state championship game.
Welch anchored the Tigers’ offensive line that averaged 225 yards a game rushing and 132 passing for 357 total yards a game en route to an 11-4 record and an appearance in the MHSAA Class 2A title game last year.
Winona coach Joey Tompkins said Welch is exactly what a coach is looking for in an offensive lineman.
“He is an offensive lineman and he loves playing offensive line,” Tompkins said. “He’s one of the few kids that loves playing offensive line and that’s really what you are looking for, the guy who wants to be there. He leads the charge there.”
Welch agrees that he likes playing offensive line “I like putting my hand on the ground and whipping the guy in front of me,” Welch said. “I like the contact and the physical part of the game. I don’t like it when they run to the other side. But 90 percent of the time, they run to my side.”
Tompkins laughed when asked if the team ran over Welch 90 percent of the time.
“He’s exaggerating a little bit but 70 percent of the plays, we are going to run behind him,” Tompkins said. “If we need a yard, we are going to run behind him because we know his is going to get movement. No matter what anybody gets in, he knows his rules and knows what to do. We expect a lot of him. He can take a good old butt chewing with the best of them. I’ve been here four years and he has started three of them and is a guy we look to for a lot.”
Welch looks the part of a right tackle as he stand 6-foot-3 1/2 inches and weighs 275 pounds. Tompkins thinks he is going to make some college football team a fine player.
“Jakob is a three-year starter for us and is going to work hard,” Welch said. “He has got some deficient areas that he knows he needs to work on. I don’t think his feet and core area are good enough to play in the SEC right now. I think he is a guy who is going to go Division II or JUCO and make somebody a real good football player because he loves the game. If you are going to go play college football, you had better love the game. He loves it. He is an extremely hard worker.”
Welch said he has gotten some interest from East Central Community College and hopes he gets an offer.
“I really hope I get to play college football, whether it’s junior college or senior college,” Welch said. “I’ve played football since the third grade. Going to college and playing football has always been a dream of mine. I like the physical aspect of football and the adrenaline rush. There is nothing like being under the Friday night lights and playing in front of the crowd here.”
The Tigers started the season 1-2 and seemed destined for a mediocre season after losing to Leflore County 56-42 in the Division 2-2A opener.
“It was embarrassing,” Welch said. “Going over there and losing to a team that was not nearly as good as we were was really embarrassing. We went on and did what we had to do the next week. It taught us that you have to give 110 percent every time you go on the field and you can’t overlook anybody.”
And the Tigers did that as they ran the table in 2-2A to win the division crown. The playoffs featured a thrilling comeback win over Scott Central and a home win over rival Calhoun City.
“This past year, I think Scott Central was the game for us,” Welch said. “Nobody thought we could win. But the coaches said we could run the ball on them and we would win. It wasn’t just me, it was the other four lineman — but we made it happen.”
Tompkins said Welch has a lot of good assets but his best one is his reliability.
“He’s one of the few guys in the four years that I have been here, that has never missed a day in the weight room,” Tompkins said. “If he has missed a day, it was because he was at a camp. He is that guy that is going to work harder than everybody else and be here every day. He is just a good ole country boy and a kid we depend on a lot. We will give him some reps on defense to help with depth and give a buy a blow and he played some defense last year.”
