Passing with the Pros: Pineville Rebel Jaylan Witty attends Manning Passing Academy

PINEVILLE, La. (KALB) - Pineville Rebel Jaylan Witty stepped foot on the field on June 30 after attending the Manning Passing Academy last weekend. This was his second time attending the passing academy, and he was able to meet the legend himself.

Witty started the last half of the season with the Rebels and fought through the tough 5A schedule. Going to the Manning Passing Academy for the second year has allowed him to better his passing game, as last season the Rebels were used to running the ball.

He went to the academy with the mindset of wanting to better his game and wanting to learn the skills it will take to help the Rebels win this upcoming season.

“I am actually standing next to a Hall of Famer Peyton Manning,” said Witty. “It was really nice. When you are talking to him, he is like a normal person. For my experience, I got to meet the same coaches, which was really nice and I got to catch up with my past coaches that I had last year, and I got to talk about the season with them. I took it to another extent; I was into more the second time than the first time. You really have to pay attention to them; they teach you a lot more this year than they did last year.”

During the seven-on-seven tournament, he was able to use what he learned at the academy this past week and is already seeing improvement in the outcome of his game mentally and physically.

Head coach Bryant Bell encouraged Witty to go to the academy to learn skills he would not normally be taught in practice as he will be the leader of the Rebels’ offense this season.

“It was a good experience for him,” said Bell. “Jaylan is a good passer, and we are always looking to utilize that in our program. You think of quarterback as being a vocal leader, but Jaylan is a quiet leader. He leads by example. He is the guy that carries water coolers around ball bags. He is always positive. He works as hard as anyone in our program, and he’s deserving of anything that he gets.”

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