Aging and unpadded football players straggle into the parking lot to the practice facility. They step out of their cars and onto the cracked pavement, which through time is beginning to resemble something closer to gravel, and look out at the sprawling field ahead.
Like the parking lot at Zenith Park in Des Moines, the multi-purpose field has been overtaken with time. The baseball diamond that once showed promise is washed away in weeds, with only the bases and the backstop indicating the game has been played here. The grass, though yellowed in spots and a bit thicker than ideal football playing conditions, is serviceable.
Meanwhile, giggles of nearby children can be heard, a sound that is only slightly drowned out by the playful music from a slowly approaching van that has been morphed into an ice cream truck.
No doubt, this isn’t the NFL.
But …
“It’s football. It’s something that once you’ve got it in your blood, it really becomes a part of you,” said King County Jaguars coach Mike Astley as he opens the canopy of his truck and drops the tailgate revealing a load of equipment. “It’s all you can think about in the offseason.”
There’s no glitz or glamour. Nor is there a paycheck. In fact, the Jaguars, most of whom range between 20 and 30 years of age, pay to play.
And when it comes to where practices take place for the minor league team?
All that’s ultimately needed is a big swath of grass.
“We don’t need the lines and everything else to make a football practice,” said Astley, 39, who is entering his third season as the head coach of the Jaguars, a team that calls Kent’s French Field home on game days.
The Jags proved as much last week.
“You get a few cones, some tires … we even have a junior sled,” Astley noted, pointing toward it. “But we can put a decent practice together.”
Now for Astley and the Jags, it’s all about putting together a competitive team.
The traditionally strong Jaguars, who won Northwest Football League titles in 2005, 2006 and 2007, fell on tough times last year. They finished the season 4-6 and missed the postseason for the first time since 2002. It also was the team’s first losing campaign since 1999, which was its first year in existence.
“It was disappointing. It was upsetting,” said Astley, who still serves as the team’s kicker on occasion.
“We had a bunch of guys who came back from the championship years and, for some reason, the chemistry just wasn’t there. We were in a rebuilding phase and, unfortunately, I had a little bit of a meltdown with some of the players.”
Astley and the team are aiming at different results this season. The Jaguars open their home schedule on Saturday, July 11 at French Field when they play host to the West Sound Saints in the fourth annual Kent Cornucopia Bowl. Kickoff is slated for 6 p.m.
It will be the first of four games at French Field for the Jaguars, who are hoping to re-capture their winning tradition this season.
If that’s going to happen, the Jags might need some help that’s not currently on the roster. That’s not to say the King County team isn’t talented — just rather low on numbers.
Last year, the Jaguars carried roughly 60 players. As of last week, that number was down to 31. Many of last year’s veterans have chosen to either hang ‘em up or play for another minor league organization.
“This year, we wanted some new blood. We needed a change,” said wide receiver/assistant coach John Monte, a South Carolina native who, at 19, is the youngest player on the team. “That wasn’t to say the veterans of the Jaguars weren’t getting the job done, but some of them had aged. We wanted to bring in some new blood to try and change things up.”
Part of that new blood is quarterback Micah Prescott, a Renton High and Fresno State University product who has speed to burn.
“My feet are a huge asset,” said the 26-year-old Prescott, who works in real estate. “My speed is definitely a threat.”
Prescott, like most of the Jaguars, plays minor league football because the passion for the game remains strong. However, he also has ideas of possibly using the Jaguars as a springboard to something else.
“For me personally, it’s a stepping stone to the Arena League,” he said. “I’m pretty much still in the game because I have the prime opportunity to play at the next level.”
Like Prescott, Monte also has designs of getting to the next level. And at 19, time is of the essence. But at 5-foot-9, 175 pounds, a future in the NFL or playing Division I college football is a dream at best.
“Semi-professional football looked like a place where I could groom some of my skills and still be able to play the game at its purest level,” said Monte, who tried to walk on at the University of Washington, where he is double-majoring in creative writing and landscape architecture. “I’m undersized and that has been my downfall.
“But I still love to play the game.”
He is exactly the type of player Astley is looking for this year.
With the right mix of attitude, desire and talent, another playoff berth remains within reach for the Jaguars.
“We’re still looking for guys with heart,” Astley said. “We don’t need tremendous talent, but we do need guys who believe in the team, who believe in the chemistry of what we’re trying to do.
“We want men who want to play football for the true sense of what it’s all about.”
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