varsity.roanoke.com

S J Carter | Special to The Roanoke Times

James River quarterback Jordan Talbott (with ball) has 2,099 yards passing and a team-high 488 yards rushing this season.

Like many high school students, James River junior Jordan Talbott has been summoned to the principal's office.

The only difference for Talbott is it's in his living room.

With 2,099 passing yards for a team that won the Pioneer District championship, the James River quarterback is a big man on campus.

But he's not the biggest. That distinction goes to his father, James River principal Jamie Talbott.

The old man has to be proud.

Jamie Talbott played quarterback at now-defunct Natural Bridge High School and later served as the head football coach for three seasons at Natural Bridge and for eight years at Rockbridge County.

Now he's watching his son light up the sky in Buchanan.

In two seasons -- with at least one game to go -- Jordan Talbott has put up astronomical numbers: 3,716 passing yards, 283 completions and 27 touchdowns. This year alone the 6-foot-1, 180-pound junior is 144-of-241 for 2,099 yards and 14 TDs with seven interceptions, while rushing for a team-high 488 yards and 13 TDs.

"I think he's the best I've seen in a long time, maybe the best ever," James River coach Philip King said.

Talbott has prospered in King's spread offense, which features four wide receivers in most situations. He has either thrown or run on nearly 70 percent of James River's offensive plays.

"I like the offense," he said. "Sometimes I would like to have two backs in the backfield I could turn around and hand off to."

Sorry, not when things are working like this.

James River, which visits Fort Chiswell at 7 tonight in a first-round Region C Division 2 playoff game, was plagued by dropped passes in the season opener against Lord Botetourt, but since then the receiving corps has been more than reliable.

Chris Ware leads the Knights in receptions (45), Jeff Johnson has the most receiving yards (656) and K.W. King -- the coach's son -- has the highest yards-per-catch average (20.1).

It's a defensive coordinator's dilemma.

"What are you going to take away?" Philip King said. "That's an 'Atta-boy' to our quarterback. He gets it where it needs to go."

Talbott has done what he needs to do to improve. He and his father have attended a variety of college and NFL games in the last several years, and they have frequent film sessions at home.

"We just work on the bits and pieces of the game," Jamie Talbott said. "I think that's coming around for him. He worked really hard in the weight room in the offseason and worked a whole lot on speed development."

Occasionally, father and son will toss the football around the yard.

"Oh yeah, he can still throw it," Jordan said.

King isn't worried about the possibility of Jamie Talbott being an undue armchair quarterback, even though the Talbotts might share the same couch in front of a television.

"It's a great advantage having grown up his whole life around football, but Jamie told me years ago he's not going to coach him," King said. "He might ask him, 'Why did you throw there?' or 'What coverage did you read?' "

Jamie Talbott spent some time as an assistant coach under Toby Peer when he first came to James River as an assistant principal. The elder Talbott's various hats sometimes have kept King on his toes.

"That's a unique situation," King said. "When we talked, I would think, 'Is this my boss? Is this Jordan's father? Or is this Coach Talbott the coach talking?' "

Jordan Talbott said he has been sent to the principal's office just once for a talk with the man in charge.

The offense?

"Wrestling in computer class," Jordan said.

The punishment?

"He told me to go see the assistant principal because he couldn't talk to me," he said.

So what's it like to have your father roaming the halls as the school principal?

"There are some advantages and disadvantages to it. It's kind of neat, I guess," Talbott said. "I'd say the disadvantage is when people talk about him and they don't know I'm around."

King will have Talbott -- who also starts at linebacker -- around for one more year. By then he might make a run at the Timesland records for career passing yards (6,351) and completions (473) held by former Andrew Lewis star Eddie Joyce, Jr.

That is, if Talbott stays healthy.

"We'll be running a scout-team drill and I'll look out there and see Jordan trying to sneak out on the field and return a kick, and I'll have to get him out of there," King said. "I rest him quite a bit and when I take him out he always gives me that look.

"He's a football player. He loves it."