Watch Jennings, because you can’t coach speed

Olympic has a player who has been a bit under the radar, but will soon run right into the middle of it. Rahiem Jennings is a 5-foot-10, 165-pound halfback/wide receiver who was an all-conference pick in 2009. He could be bigger than that next fall.

Trojans coach Barry Shuford has coached a lot of fast players over his and successful career, but says simply of Jennings, “He’s the fastest kid I’ve ever coached.”

Shuford, not given to exaggeration, says Jennings runs the 40-yard dash in the sub-4.4-second range.

Last year, Jennings did a bit of everything, playing halfback, wide receiver and returning kickoffs. Although he rushed just 49 times, he gained 458 yards (9.3 average), with seven TDs. He also caught 34 passes for 699 yards and 10 scores. He scored a total of 110 points.

Expect the bigger schools to be paying attention when they come to Olympic to evaluate the better Trojans in May.

--Stan Olson