NOAH Jaguars OK 2023 Team Preview
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Throughout the month of July and into August, we are publishing well over 100 in-depth team previews to get you completely ready for the 2023 football season. This is something that began in 2021 and has continued to get bigger every single year. We’re looking forward to diving deep into the top teams across the state. From defending champions, to top contenders and plenty of dark horses, we’ll have complete coverage every single day with new teams from Class 6A, all the way down to the addition of 8-man coverage this year with Class B and C. In this post, we take a look at the NOAH Jaguars.
NOAH Jaguars
The NOAH Jaguars are one of the more intriguing football programs in Oklahoma right now. Because it’s a football team made up of homeschooled student athletes and doesn’t participate under the OSSAA. They still play plenty of Oklahoma teams and last season was another example of that. They played half of their schedule against Oklahoma programs during a 10-2 season that ended with a homeschool national championship. The season began with a shutout win over Morrison before they suffered back to back losses to Metro Christian and Kiefer. The Jaguars wouldn’t lose again the rest of the way and were rather dominant in most of those wins. The season would end in November when they beat Lighthouse Christian out of Missouri for the second time during the 2022 season and then they beat Georgia Force 42-9 in the championship game to claim the national title. The Jaguars would finish 10-2 and they are hungry for much more as we look ahead to the 2023 football season and there are plenty of reasons why this program should garner more attention this fall.
First and foremost, they have the state’s top rated prospect in the 2024 class but more on him under our “Players To Watch” section. This is a team that has more next level players besides the top prospect in the class and they’ll also play a challenging schedule. The offense should be incredibly talented as they bring back seven starters on that side of the ball, including the majority of their offensive line and their quarterback. The running game will look a little different as they have to replace a very productive playmaker at the running back position but overall, this offense has a few weapons to light up the scoreboard. The defense returns just four starters on that side of the ball but again, it features the top college prospect in the state and all eyes are going to be on him. That is going to open the door for other players on this defense to make plays as opposing offenses gear their gameplans to slowing him down. The Jaguars look incredibly talented on paper heading into this season and it’s not out of the realm of possibility that they repeat their championship and potentially go unbeaten in the process. They’ll be tested, especially early, but we think they have the firepower to respond to those early season tests.
2022 RESULTS (10-2 Record – Homeschool National Champions)
Aug. 26 – Beat Morrison 43-0
Sept. 2 – Lost To Metro Christian 41-9
Sept. 9 – Lost To Kiefer 29-20
Sept. 16 – Beat Chisholm 56-28
Sept. 23 – Beat Casady 35-21
Sept. 30 – Beat Dallas HSAA, TX 71-6
Oct. 14 – Beat Tomball Christian, TX 16-15
Oct. 21 – Beat Lighthouse Christian, MO 44-9
Oct. 29 – Beat Christ Prep, KS 20-0
Nov. 4 – Beat OKC Patriots 30-0
Homeschool Playoffs – Beat Lighthouse Christian, MO 28-14
Homeschool Playoffs – Beat Georgia Force 42-9
Key Losses To Graduation
Benjamin Lowery – Running Back
Dawson Atchison – Wide Receiver/Defensive Back
Gunner Ramey – Wide Receiver/Linebacker
KD Freeman – Defensive Back
Micah Trent – Offensive/Defensive Lineman
Players To Watch
We mentioned a few times earlier in the preview how the NOAH offense has the potential to light up the scoreboard and the return of 2024 quarterback Chet Green Chet Green 6’2″ | 215 lbs | QB NOAH | 2024 State OK is a big reason behind that belief. Green has been starting for the Jaguars for a few years and took his game to another level last season as a junior. Green threw for nearly 1,900 yards and 21 touchdowns last season. We think that his production is going to see a spike this season as the Jaguars try to work in different players at the running back position. Green is an experienced quarterback that has the potential to sling the ball all over the field. With good skill players and a strong offensive line setting the tone on the line of scrimmage, look for Green’s production to go up.
Highlights
NOAH 2024 defensive lineman Daniel Okoye Daniel Okoye 6’4″ | 225 lbs | DL NOAH | 2024 State OK is hands down the top prospect in the state’s 2024 class and a prospect like Okoye simply doesn’t come around very often. We don’t say the following statement very often, but Okoye looks like a future NFL draft pick already. He has a very unique blend of overall athleticism with brute strength and quickness that makes him a nightmare coming off the edge on the line of scrimmage. It’s necessary to double team him at all times and sometimes that’s not enough. And as if he wasn’t impactful enough, Okoye could also turn around and play some offense as a tight end or even out at wide receiver. We saw his potential on offense firsthand at our 7v7 tournament in February. But he is a prototypical edge rusher at the next level and beyond.
NOAH’s offensive line has the potential to be one of the better units in the Tulsa area this season. Leading that unit is 2024 standout Ezra Ballinger Ezra Ballinger 6’5″ | 270 lbs | OL NOAH | 2024 State OK at the left tackle position. There are a couple Ballingers along the offensive line but Ezra is the upcoming senior that has emerged as a legitimate prospect for the next level. We’ve written about Ballinger a few times over the last two years with him practicing with and against a player like Okoye. “Iron sharpens iron” is a phrase that comes to mind here. When we got a chance to see Ballinger earlier this year at a team camp in late May, he had really taken his game to the next level. His improvement from the last time we saw him in person was noticeable and college coaches have taken notice as well.
Highlights
More Names To Know
DJ Salvodon – 2025 Running Back
Dylan Dugger
Dylan
Dugger
6'0" | 180 lbs | WR
NOAH | 2025
OK
– 2025 Wide Receiver/Defensive Back
Jude Ballinger
Jude
Ballinger
6'4" | OL
NOAH | 2026
State
OK
– 2026 Offensive Lineman
Kaden Piche
Kaden
Piche
5'11" | 165 lbs | WR
NOAH | 2024
OK
– 2024 Wide Receiver
Noah Kesner
Noah
Kesner
6'0" | 195 lbs | LB
NOAH | 2025
OK
– 2025 Running Back/Linebacker
Rafe Tackitt
Rafe
Tackitt
6'3" | DL
NOAH | 2024
State
OK
– 2024 Defensive Lineman
2023 Schedule/Game To Circle
Aug. 25 – Kiefer
– Season openers will always bring a ton of excitement no matter what the game is but for NOAH, their season opener should be one of the better match-ups of week zero this season. The Jaguars will host a Kiefer team that is one of the top ten teams in our Class 2A rankings. The Trojans were also one of the teams that beat NOAH last season, beating them 29-20 in week two of last season. It also kicks off a two-week stretch where the Jaguars face ranked teams in Class 2A with Kiefer and then 3A’s Metro Christian the following week, the other team that beat them in 2022.
Sept. 1 – Metro Christian
Sept. 9 – Grand Valley, MO
Sept. 15 – AT Chisholm
Sept. 22 – AT Western Heights
Sept. 29 – AT HSAA Blue Angels
Oct. 14 – Acadiana Christian, TX
Oct. 19 – AT Webster
Oct. 28 – Christ Prep, KS
– In week eight, NOAH will play host to Christ Prep Academy out of Kansas and this is arguably the toughest regular season match-up against another homeschooled program. The Jaguars beat Christ Prep 20-0 last season and they have won three consecutive games in the series. But before that three-game winning streak, Christ Prep had won three in a row and this series has been relatively even when you look at it from a wide lens. When we received info from NOAH’s coaching staff, it included a note about Christ Prep being potentially their biggest challenge to repeating as champs.
Nov. 3 – AT OKC Patriots