High school football preview: Connor Jamison coming home to play quarterback for Brunswick

Senior quarterback Connor Jamison couldn't be happier to return home. Jamison is slated to be behind center tonight when the Brunswick football team travels to Berea-Midpark after spending the previous three seasons at Holy Name. The chance to play for his hometown school again feels like the perfect conclusion to his career. "I'm excited for this season and new beginnings at Brunswick," Jamison said. "I'm just excited to play with all these guys that I used to play with back in the day (in youth football) in middle school." While changing schools and learning a new offense can be a lot to handle, the transition was made easier by the fact that Jamison is so familiar with his "new" teammates. "He wasn't new to all of the kids," first-year coach James Boyeas said. "They knew him, have grown up with him. He played youth football in Brunswick and decided Holy Name was a place he wanted to go to. It wasn't like he needed to get reacquainted or learn the kids. They were all excited that he was around. There's consistency in his work ethic that makes it easy for kids to rally around him." Boyeas becoming the coach was something that intrigued Jamison after watching Boyeas' teams at Revere and Lorain, calling his schemes a "quarterback-built offense". Jamison and Boyeas are looking to boost an offense that averaged 21.4 points, 113.9 passing yards and 270.3 total yards last season. Brunswick, which lost to the Titans 28-7 in Week 1 a year ago, won four straight and five out of six games to get to 5-3 in 2025 before losing the final three games, including 24-17 to Massillon Jackson in the first round of the Division I playoffs. "The offense is really versatile for me," Jamison said. "I can really do a lot. When the play call comes in, nobody knows if I'm handing the ball off, pulling it and running it or passing it. It's perfect for me, because I can really spread out the defense." Boyeas complimented the 6-foot-5, 210-pound Jamison's arm strength and accuracy, but also pointed to his mental acuity as his strongest attribute. "He absolutely loves football," Boyeas said. "He's one that's going to put in the work on the field and off the field. He's a little bit of a film junkie. He likes seeing things on film and making corrections. "So far, he's been pretty easy to coach." Jamison and the Green Wave started 4-1 last season before finishing 6-5 and averaging 17.3 points. Boyeas' teams have a history of rapid early improvement. Lorain went 9-2 in his first season in 2024 after going 7-3 the year prior, while Revere went 6-4 in 2018 after going 2-8. Jamison is embracing lofty goals this season. "We definitely want to go to the playoffs and play for a state championship," Jamison said. "We just have to go week by week, win every week and put up as many points as we can to set up a run in the playoffs." While Jamison's arm strength and accuracy can make up for certain small mistakes, the Blue Devils are locked in on getting the offense to operate smoothly. That comes with continuing to build chemistry until everyone knows where everyone else is going to be at a given moment. "The biggest thing we've been working on is getting the ball out on time," Boyeas said. "Because Connor's got such a big arm, he can kind of make up for being a little late with how hard he can throw the ball and his placement. "As he becomes more comfortable with the offense and understands his reads, he's really improved on getting the ball out on time." Jamison considers himself at his best as a pocket passer but has shown the acumen to be the type of decision maker in the running game that Boyeas relies on his quarterback to be. "Connor's not the loudest kid, but the kids know he's going to hang tough in the pocket and deliver," Boyeas said. "He's also doing a great job in our run game. We're really quarterback-centric in our run game when it comes to making decisions. He's really surprised me with his ability to read the run game." Whether as a passer or a runner, Jamison is ready to do what the Blue Devils need to make his return home successful. "Football is the most physical sport there is out there," Jamison said. "I like competing against other teams. (As a quarterback,) you get to really run the offense and throw the football really far. That's my favorite thing to do." Contact John Urchek at jurchek@medina-gazette.com.