The NKyTribune will be providing focused coverage of NKY high school football throughout the season, thanks to support from St. Elizabeth Healthcare Sports Medicine. See all of our pre-season features on each of NKY’s 21 high school football teams and follow our coverage, including roundups each week at Northern Kentucky High School Football.
By Tom Ramstetter
NKyTribune contributor
Justin Blackburn does it all for the Ludlow football team.
The junior second-year starting quarterback throws well and runs even better. He’s also the Panthers’ best tackler as a linebacker on defense. But how he does things matters just as much to his coaches and teammates as the impressive numbers he has put up.
Ludlow junior sophomore Justin Blackburn accounted for more than 2,600 yards in passing and rushing combined last year.
“His main quality is his leadership on the field,” Ludlow coach Rick Hornsby said. “His leadership qualities in the huddle and how he presents himself on the football field outweigh any deficiencies he may have.”
There are not many of those, either. Blackburn rushed for 1,315 yards on 171 carries with 13 touchdowns and passed for 1,287 more yards and 14 touchdowns in 2015 during his first full year under center for Ludlow. He was the key player for a team that finished 6-5 and hosted a playoff game for the first time since 1975, according to the coach.
“He is definitely a better runner than he is a passer right now,” Hornsby said. “He’s probably one of the premier runners in Northern Kentucky, I believe. If you watch him run and how he breaks tackles, he reads the defense really well when he’s running. That’s not to say he not a really good passer. I just think at this stage he’s a much better runner.”
Blackburn is like a second tailback in Ludlow’s spread offense. When he does throw, it will be more of a quick-strike attack.
The junior will also run the defense from his Mike linebacker position. He’s been a linebacker since his freshman year when he also played a little quarterback for the Panthers.
“We just felt that he was our future,” Hornsby said. “We knew he was going to be a great football player even his freshman year. Being a small program like we have, you play freshmen. We have to most of the time. He is the best tackler on the team.”
Two-way players are common in high school football, especially at the Class A level in Kentucky. But playing quarterback — most often the most important player on a team — and linebacker is unusual. He makes all the calls on defense, just like he does on offense.
“He’s one of the fastest kids on the team and the thing about him is that he works as hard at practice as he does when we have games,” Hornsby said. “That’s where his leadership qualities come in. Other players watch him and see how hard he works during drills and I think that motivates them to do the same.”
“So he has a lot of responsibility, but he is a natural with it,” Hornsby added. “As coaches, we’re not too worried about putting too much burden on him.”
Blackburn will not catch opposing teams by surprise this year. But that’s not to say he cannot match or improve upon his 2015 season if foes focus their defense on stopping him.
“I think we have good enough receivers and our other running backs are very complementary to Justin,” Hornsby said. “So the teams that are just going to focus on him, I think that would be very unfortunate for them. I think he’ll do fine. Whether he reaches the type of season he did last year, I don’t think we’ll know that until we get into the season a little bit and see how our line does and how our receivers do.”
Individual statistics won’t be nearly as important as winning football games. The Panthers are seeking a third straight winning season, despite the smallest roster in recent years with only 26 players.
“We really set the bar higher this year than we ever have,” Hornsby said. “We feel like the kids the last few years have bought in to what we’re trying to do. We don’t feel like we can’t push them just because we have small groups. As a coaching staff, we decided we were going to push them and raise the bar a little bit. See if we can’t get over that hump of winning a playoff game and see if we can’t have a higher winning percentage as far as the season goes. The kids have really bought in to it.”
LUDLOW PANTHERS
2015 SEASON: 6-5 record, lost in first round of Class 1A playoffs.
DISTRICT: Class 1A, District 4 with Beechwood, Bellevue and Dayton.
HEAD COACH: Rick Hornsby (32-57 in eight seasons at Ludlow).
2016 SCHEDULE
Aug. 19 – at Newport, 7 p.m.
Aug. 26 – BRACKEN COUNTY, 7 p.m.
Sept. 2 – PARIS, 7 p.m.
Sept. 9 – at Gallatin County, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 16 – TRIMBLE COUNTY, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 23 – at Williamsburg, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 30 – at Brossart, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 7 – DAYTON, 7 p.m.
Oct. 13 – BEECHWOOD, 7 p.m.
Oct. 21 – at Bellevue, 7 p.m.
Other NKyTribune prep football previews:
Conner
Dixie Heights
Walton-Verona
Holmes
Ryle
Bellevue
Brossart
Covington Catholic
Dayton
Lloyd
Cooper
Newport Central Catholic
Boone County
Beechwood
Highlands
Campbell County
Scott
