When Dereon Coleman got a Jones Tigers tattoo etched on the deltoid muscle of his right throwing arm, that was all football coach Elijah Williams needed to know about his quarterback.

Williams was coming off a season that had exhausted him in 2021. He was contemplating hanging up his whistle.

“The principal had come to me and was telling me that he heard I was tired and might be thinking about quitting. But once I saw what he did with that Jones tattoo on his arm, I told the principal, ‘I ain’t leaving until I see Dereon Coleman graduate,'” Williams said.

That resonated with Coleman, who is the No. 2 player in the Sentinel’s 2026 Central Florida Super60.

“That meant that he was committed to me and that means a lot to me,” Coleman said. “Because if he left I wouldn’t know where to go. I’d be asking him where to go. I probably wouldn’t leave though. I’m Jones High School, all the way.”

He’s the star quarterback for a 14-0 Tigers team that plays favored Plantation American Heritage in the Class 4A state championship game tonight in Miami.

Coleman came to Jones from Plant City, where he was the starting quarterback as a freshman for the first three games before he moved to Orlando with his father because of family issues.

“I probably weighed about 100 pounds. I’m serious,” Coleman said.

Now, as a junior, he is one of the top quarterbacks in the country for a team that is one win away from the first state championship in school history.

Coleman is still not very big, but he has put on 60 pounds and has turned himself into one of the best quarterbacks in the country. He’s 6-foot and is rated as the No. 24 quarterback prospect in the country by 247Sports.

“Everybody always talked down about my size, but most people don’t know how far I have come with my size,” Coleman said. “I played at probably 130 to 140 sophomore year.

“Me getting to where I am now, at 160. … people just don’t understand how much weight I’m picking up in the offseason.”

He’s a dual-threat who who makes mincemeat of defenses with his uncanny ability. With his skinny arms and legs he’s fast, extremely agile, intelligent and strong. His ball release is lightning quick and he has deceptive arm strength with dead-eye accuracy.

Coleman has thrown for 3,238 yards on 190-for-257 passing, a 74% completion rate, this year. He has thrown 29 touchdown passes and just 4 interceptions. He’s rushed for an additional 303 yards for 5 per carry.

“Everybody tells me if I was like 180 or 175 I’d be the No. 1 quarterback in the nation and I’d have every offer in the world,” Coleman said. “But I don’t really care about all that. The schools that are looking at me now, those are the schools that are really into me.”

Miami was so into Coleman that he verbally committed (non-binding) to the Hurricanes in July.

Coleman is a master at escaping a collapsing pocket. He never appears in duress. With blitzes zeroing in on him, he will duck tacklers, or step up and spin out into the flats to buy more time.

“Sometimes when I’m watching the film and I’m like, ‘Wow, I don’t know how I got out of that, but somehow I did it,'” Coleman said.

Upon arrival at Jones, he couldn’t get on the field right away.

“I was just locked in to the mental reps, since they told me I couldn’t play because of the transfer,” he said. “So I needed to be getting all of the calls and all of the signals down pat, so when spring came it was going to be my time to shine.”

Shine he did. He took over as starting quarterback during the spring and was feeling good about the upcoming 2023 season. During the summer, however, hot-shot West Orange quarterback Trever Jackson transferred to Jones.

“That was really the first time I had competition at the high school level,” Coleman said. “He actually helped me get better during that whole season, helped me with my leadership with the team. Him coming to Jones definitely made me better.”

Jackson and Coleman platooned at the quarterback spot last season, with Coleman in for most passing situations. The tag-team effort led the Tigers on a state semifinal run. It ended in a 42-35 loss at Homestead.

This year, with Jackson off to Florida State, the job was all Coleman’s, and he has embraced his leadership role.

It’s easy to see that Coleman and his teammates, especially elite receivers Vernell Brown III and Larry Miles, are having fun on field.

“This season has been long and fun. It’s the longest season I’ve ever played,” said Coleman, who awaits Game No. 15. “I’m enjoying it with my boys, knowing this is going to be my last game with them [seniors]. I’m just ready to win it all with them and just cherish the moment.”

Chris Hays can be found on X.com @OS_ChrisHays.