Thunder and Lightning: Running back duo leads potent Huskies offense

Hewitt-Trussville High School head football coach Josh Floyd knew he had something special five years ago.

As he watched the seventh-grade Huskies football team beat Thompson 54-48 for the Metro championship, he watched Sean Jackson take snap after snap as the Wildcat quarterback. Jackson consistently gained chunks of yardage, piling up 369 rushing yards and six touchdowns in the win.

A few years later, Armoni Goodwin entered the picture. Goodwin arrived in Trussville prior to his sophomore season, following an impressive freshman campaign at Florence.

Thus, ‘Thunder and Lightning’ was formed.

That’s a moniker the duo embraces. Goodwin and Jackson both play the running back position, but they are quite different in their playing style. They complement each other perfectly, according to their head coach.

“It’s a lot of fun to coach these guys. Sean’s a big key to our offense because he does so many things,” Floyd said. “Armoni has such great explosiveness and can take it the distance any time.”

Jackson and Goodwin have been major contributors each of the past two seasons for Hewitt-Trussville’s explosive offense and are well on their way to piling up plenty of impressive statistics in their senior years. In the Huskies’ second game of the season, a 45-13 win over Spain Park, each back went over 100 yards on the ground and scored a pair of touchdowns.

“You’ve got thunder and lightning,” Goodwin said. “He’s going to pound somebody, and I’m a speed guy.”

Both players are a little shy of 6 feet tall, but Jackson is a little taller and carries about 30 more pounds than Goodwin. Jackson has the ability to run people over, while Goodwin can get to the edge and break free at a moment’s notice.

“He’s a really good runner, he’s a punishing runner,” Floyd said of Jackson. “He actually has great balance. He keeps his feet really well on contact.”

On Goodwin, Floyd said, “If you think he’s just a soft scat back, he’s not that at all. That dude loves to finish runs. One thing I love is even if it’s not there, he’s falling forward and getting 2 or 3 yards.”

Their differences are so complementary, that Jackson and Goodwin are almost always on the field at the same time. Both can line up in the backfield, but Jackson often splits out as a wide receiver or in various other spots in the formation.

“It makes the offense more versatile and spreads out the defense,” Jackson said of the importance of his ability to do a variety of things.

Floyd said Jackson’s versatility opens up the offensive playbook to an “unlimited” depth due to not having to sub Jackson out depending on the formation.

“If you were drawing it up, they’re like the perfect duo,” Floyd said.

Last fall, Goodwin was off to an incredible start, piling up 462 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns in just three games before he tore the ACL and MCL in his knee.

“It was tough,” he said.

Goodwin said it took four or five months following the injury to begin feeling like himself once again. He admitted to nerves entering the first game of this season against Pinson Valley, but he quickly shrugged those off and looked like his old self. In Hewitt’s 44-19 win, he had 175 yards and three scores.

“It was fun watching his confidence grow, it was a little bit each month,” Floyd said. “Even the other night [in the season opener], it grew throughout the game. He hadn’t really been hit on the knee since last September.”

In Goodwin’s stead last fall, Jackson became the go-to back. He performed well in the feature role, amassing 1,225 all-purpose yards and a strong 8.1 yards per carry average.

“When we didn’t make the playoffs, that kind of hurt, but I thought I did a pretty good job stepping up,” Jackson said.

Now they are both on the field once again, but there is no animosity amongst them. They understand the role they play in helping Hewitt-Trussville perform at its peak in a season in which there are high expectations. The Huskies offense has a new offensive coordinator in Juan Johnson, but Goodwin and Jackson have been under his tutelage for the last few years as their position coach, so that transition has been smooth.

“They’re smart football players,” Floyd said. “They’re smart enough to realize they make each other better, and they make it tougher on a defense when they’re both out there.”

After this fall, Goodwin will head to Auburn, while Jackson is still mulling over his college choices. They both believe the sky’s the limit for the Huskies this fall, but it will take each of them at the top of their game in order to reach their goals.