Right now in New Orleans, one of the most academically prestigious schools in the city is doing things the right way off the field, and the results are beginning to show once they get on the gridiron.
That’s the situation at The Willow School (formerly Lusher Charter), a 4A school much better known for its academic and artistic pursuits than anything football related. The high school didn’t even open until after Hurricane Katrina, so it’s still a young football program with plenty of room to grow. Willow’s academic rigor could be seen as a hurdle to overcome to be a successful football program, but head coach JJ Smith sees it a different way.
We are a K-12 school, so they come up through the system and hear the same emphasis throughout the school. We teach them to treat others with respect, lift each other up, support each other, things like that. Those things are instilled throughout the whole school, and they help regardless of whether they play football or not. We’re coaching football, but we’re also teaching life.
The Willow School Head Coach JJ Smith
Coach Smith has taken on the responsibility of leading this program for the last 7 years, and the ride has been quite bumpy along the way. Both Covid and Hurricane Ida hit the school and the program hard, and left the team with much fewer resources. Hurricane Ida in particular was extremely difficult to navigate – with the threat of having to cancel the football season looming, the team lost most of their time to prepare in the fall. The Willow School did end up playing football in 2021, but they had to scramble and play a lot of young and inexperienced kids that season, and suffered a winless campaign because of it. The program has come a long way since then, posting a winning season in 2023 and a 5-5 record in 2024, clearly going in the right direction as a program.
We had a lot of young guys that were forced into leadership roles, but now those guys are getting older, and we have the benefit of them having a lot of experience now.
The Willow School Head Coach JJ Smith
Coach JJ Smith has been the architect of this entire operation, restarting the program after all of its hurdles, and he is equipped to do it with firsthand experience seeing success at the highest of levels. JJ Smith was a running back at Kansas State University, and he made it all the way to the NFL where he was signed by the Kansas City Chiefs in 1995. He now has 25 years of football coaching experience in total, including time coaching in NFL Europe, and that time as a player and a coach gives him a unique perspective that he now uses at The Willow School.
Being in the league gave me the privilege of being around a lot of great coaches and assistants. I’ve learned the routines and schedules of professionals and how they teach at the highest of levels.
The Willow School Head Coach JJ Smith
Coach Smith’s philosophy with leading a football program goes hand-in-hand with the goals of The Willow School itself, as well as the mission of Gridiron Football. It centers around the players becoming the right people off the field before they can succeed while on it. The character of the football player is the most important thing. The impact he’s most proud of isn’t the biggest win or the deepest playoff run, but instead the stories of his kids making positive changes in their communities after they leave the halls of The Willow School.
It’s important to have a good attitude and inspire people. That’s not just on the field – that’s when you’re out in the hallway, in the classroom, before school, after school. If you have a good kid, you have a good player.
The Willow School Head Coach JJ Smith
The development of personal discovery and leadership skills is at the forefront of Coach Smith’s focus. The Willow School offers ample opportunity for artistic expression, and that’s an opportunity that the players take advantage of. Many of the football players are also artists and musicians, and the team made their own war chant derived from ancient Africa. It leads to their team motto, “One Team, One Beat”.
Player-led leadership is the other big focus, and that takes many forms. Coach Smith emphasizes the importance of mental health, and how the team can be a community for people to lean on when they are struggling.
I’m a big proponent of kids learning themselves. They need to learn what they love and get their mind right. Mental health is a problem in our community, so we need to let them know that they always have people in their life that they can lean on. We need to create opportunities for our older guys to be leaders and help the younger kids, to be like mentors and help them in real life.
The Willow School Head Coach JJ Smith
All of that personal development leads, of course, to athletic development. To Coach Smith, if you have everything else right, it will lead to doing the right thing on the field. His focus is on maximizing the potential of what every kid can do, and making sure they give it all once they get on the field. He makes sure they have every tool needed in the weeks and days leading up to the game so they can succeed once gameday hits.
Football is all about preparation and toughness. You have to give your best – it doesn’t matter how much talent you have, you need to give effort. There are kids that give 100% effort that out produce more talented players.
The Willow School Head Coach JJ Smith
To help him with these goals, he has assembled a group of coaches to assist him. His Defensive Coordinator is CJ Holmes, who used to play under Coach Smith at The Willow School. He was the school’s first ever All-State player, the 3rd WR in the same group as Jamar Chase and Justin Jefferson. He went to Jackson St, where he converted to CB and got a chance to learn from Deion Sanders. Now he has returned home to impart his knowledge. Also on the staff is Jack Holmes, a former player for the New Orleans Saints. Both of the Holmes help the focus on the kids, and they provide a lot of value as former players themeselves.
I try to bring in any former players I can, and any alumni of the school as well. The kids look up to them. Relating to the kids by showing people that walked the same halls, did the same workouts, and played on the same field as them can bring a lot to the table.
The Willow School Head Coach JJ Smith
Here are some of the players Coach Smith spotlighted as ones to watch for this season.
Ahmad Vappie is a 2027 WR who is on pace to break all of CJ Holmes’ receivng records at the school, already the program’s career leading receiver with two years left to play. At 6’3″, he’s a great basketball player too, and the sky is the limit for him heading into his Junior year.
Darryl Franklin is a fellow class of 2027 player that is a true swiss-army knife for the team. He plays everywhere, and he does it at a speed rarely seen at the high school level. his 4.39 40 yard dash is incredible, and the speed shows on the football field.
Mark Rhodes is a hard-nosed 2026 RB who is hungry for a chance to play at the next level. He’s got all the tools to succeed at that level too – good cuts, great vision, solid pass-blocking ability, and the toughness to take hits and stay up. He’s got one more shot to get to the next level, and he will do everything needed to make it there.
Tyrell Johnson is a do-it-all 2026 DB who already has offers from Mississippi Valley and Millsaps. His ball skills are really impressive, and he has the range and vision to take advantage of them.
Cyrus Buckels is a 2026 CB who is a 4 year starter at the position. He’s got tons of experience, and his speed and physicality stand out. He is not afraid to bully the guy going against him.
After hitting rock bottom in 2020 and 2021, The Willow School has made tremendous progress in becoming a competitive football program. We can’t wait to see what awaits them in 2025.
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