A.J. Morgan, a former Kadena Panthers star quarterback-running back who is now an assistant coach at the school, observes Thomas McDonald, left, and Darin Douglas, right, going through cornerback jamming drills during Monday's practice. (Dave Ornauer / S&S)
KADENA AIR BASE, Okinawa
Maybe you can go home again, if the stories of A.J. Morgan and Jonathan Wright are any indicator.
"It’s possible. I’m a living example of that," Morgan said.
See, Morgan used to be a star quarterback at Kadena High, leading his Buccaneers to Rising Sun Bowl berths back when the football pools of Okinawa’s two high schools were split into two teams each.
After giving it a go at Tyler Community College in Texas and hurting a knee in the process, Morgan enlisted in the Air Force. He now finds himself back at Kadena, a 22-year-old airman first class working in transportation management, and an assistant on Kadena’s coaching staff.
"It just happened. Coincidence," Morgan said. "There must be a reason for me to come back here. I’m excited, actually. I kind of know the place, and I still know some faces at the high school, and I wanted to come back and help out coach."
Wright, a quarterback on last year’s Class AA champion Panthers and an assistant this season, plans to follow Morgan’s example — enlist and return to Kadena as an airman and resume his assistant duties.
"I want to come back here," said Wright, 18, who will work at Kadena’s outdoor recreation before leaving for the Air Force in January. He and Morgan are taking college courses, with the intent of becoming head coaches someday.
It seems a perfect marriage, having guys who’ve "been there, done that" return to show their successors how it’s done and how to be winners.
"I’m very happy to have their past experience," current Panthers star Brandon Harris said. "They know how to play and have been there on the field with Kubasaki."
"Both these guys in their own right were great quarterbacks," coach Sergio Mendoza said. "Wright is smart, led us to a championship game; he’ll be a coach someday. A.J.’s intensity and work ethic; he may be the best athlete to step into the halls of our school."
Teaching instead of doing, Wright said, is the biggest difference between playing and assisting, knowing when to back off and let others take charge.
"It’s hard to step back, but I’m doing it," said Wright, who works with Kadena’s three quarterbacks, Stan Schrock, Norman Correa and Lamar Stevens. "It’s fun, of course. Just being able to see what I taught them pay off on the field."
Morgan works with the Panthers’ skills-positions players, teaching everything from backpedaling and breaking to the ball to quarterback accuracy, dropping back, running backs’ vision and planting.
"It’s not very hard," he said. "I wanted to coach anyway, take my knowledge, pass it on to the players and learn from coach Mendoza and them how to coach."
While Wright won a Class AA championship as a player, Morgan led the Pacific in total offense in the 2003 season, but came up short twice against Yokota in the Rising Sun Bowl, 42-14 in 2001 and 31-3 in 2003, each at Kadena’s McDonald Stadium.
Playing as split squads, instead of today’s current full-school format, hurt Kadena’s chances against Yokota, Morgan said. "We couldn’t have a whole school behind us. All the players we needed, the Islanders had; all the players they needed, we had."
At Tyler, he injured his right knee, and was told even after rehabilitation that his chances of playing there again were remote.
"I cried for a week," he said. "That really hurt. I can’t jump like I used to. I can’t run like I used to. There were fresh legs coming in."
Still going to school but in need of money, Morgan decided to enlist in the Air Force. He had Kadena on his wish list, but didn’t expect a return to his old school.
"Everything happens for a reason," he said.
Except for the Air Force uniform and not attending high school, things are almost the same for Morgan. Even his mother, Army Sgt. 1st Class Jennifer Carter-Woods, is stationed here again.
"Getting home-cooked meals," Morgan said. "I’m loving that."