‘His arm talent is superior.’ Why Providence QB Jackson Debe is drawing FBS college looks
Three years ago, Providence High School football coach Wes Ward went to watch a middle school game between two feeder schools.
It didn’t take long for future Panthers’ quarterback Jackson Debe to stand out.
“I can see him, and he’s 6-2, and I’m like, ‘Look at that tight end coming onto the field,’” said Ward, whose team hosts Mooresville High Friday. “I’m like, ‘I sure hope he’s coming to Providence.’ And then he gets into the shotgun.”
Both of Ward’s eyebrows shot up behind his dark sunglasses. His voice shot up a few octaves, too.
“It’s like, ‘Oh, he’s a quarterback!,” Ward said, still in a semi-acapella. “Then he threw a dime 40 years down the field. It’s like, ‘He can throw it, too!’”
In middle school, former Panthers’ receiver Philly Brown coached Debe, who played for the first time as an eighth grader. Debe grew up playing pitcher and infield in baseball, and throwing any kind of ball, he said, was just natural for him.
In ninth grade, Debe played junior varsity at Providence for five weeks. Then, Ward decided he was too good to not move up.
So Debe started the rest of the season.
“It was intimidating at first,” Debe said. “But I like to compete and I was comfortable with the guys around me.”
As a sophomore, Debe became a star, throwing for more than 2,000 yards and 26 touchdowns. He had an impressive 101.2 quarterback rating.
In the offseason, colleges came calling, liking Debe’s size — he is now 6-4 and 205 pounds — and that powerful throwing arm.
Right now, he said he’s gotten offers from Boston College, Charlotte, James Madison, Liberty, Pittsburgh and Temple. Appalachian State and Coastal Carolina are both recruiting him hard.
Four games into his junior year, Debe has raised his QB rating to 122.6, and he’s really just starting to get the hang of this football thing.
“I think I can work on my accuracy,” he said, “with knowing when to really throw my hardest ball out there and when to put a little more touch on it. But I think I do a good job of studying plays and throwing that deep ball.”
That’s the thing that college coaches like so much, Ward said: Debe can really, really spin it.
“His arm talent is superior,” Ward said. “The big thing is he hasn’t played a lot of years, so it’s about him truly understanding the game. But it’s starting to come into play.”
Panthers’ junior Spencer Austin has known Debe since middle school and admits he’s a little biased, but Spencer believes that Ward is already the best quarterback in Charlotte’s SoMECK conference and, “probably top five in the state.”
“He’s overall just a super athletic guy,” Austin said. “He’s always been that guy in every sport — football, baseball, basketball. And he’s just a really good guy to be around. He’s a leader on the team. I mean he’s already got the (college) offers and I can’t wait to watch him on TV.”
For now, Debe said he’s focused on helping his team win and just getting better at his position. Ultimately, he wants to be good enough to keep attracting college attention, hoping to land somewhere that, in his words, “has a historically good program, a fun location and good academics.”
Ward thinks his QB1 has the ability to make all of that come true.
“He can continue to get way better,” Ward said. “He’s maturing as an athlete who will take over, and he’s starting to make sure he’s that general on the field at all times. And then, it’s just about holding his people accountable.”
This story was originally published October 3, 2024 at 6:30 AM.
