After a 6-2 regular season record and a first round 43-16 lost to Tottenville in the Public School Athletic League (PSAL/NYC) 4A Conference football playoffs, John F. Kennedy Campus High School (JFK/Bronx) head coach Alex Vega expressed a measure of confidence for a successful 2025 campaign for his team.
But he knows, while the Knights will return a talented roster, it will not be an easy task due to the 4A’s competitive nature.
“We have the toughest schedule in the city, so we’ll see,” Vega said of the team’s possible results for the year. “I just want to see them compete, and I want to make the playoffs and get a home playoff game.”
The first up on JKF’s talent list is rising sophomore quarterback Jeremiah Senat. Vega said he was the first signal caller to start as a freshman at JFK, with an impressive skill set at his disposal that shows high promise of translating in to wins this year, he added.
“He’s got a great arm,” Vega, a Cornell University graduate, said. “He’s very tough, and very smart. He can actually throw the ball.”
Next is rising senior gifted running back Derik Betances (picture left below), one of the top PSAL running backs, with a great combination of speed and strength, Vega noted.
“He’s our feature back,” he said. “First and foremost, he’s a tough, tough kid. He has the goods. He’s fast, very fast. He bench presses 300 pounds, and squats 410 pounds. And he’s smart. He also runs hard and breaks tackles.”
What more can you ask, I say?
Plus, there are two other backfield options in rising seniors Hamidou Feseru (5-foot-10, 180 pounds), another speedy, powerful–plus academically gifted–choice, and Emmanuel Hernandez, whom Vega said may start the season on the sidelines due to an injury.
“He is fast and strong–he actually is the smartest kid on the team,” Vega gushed of Feseru. “I like to see him on the Ivy League level. He runs a 4.6 40-yard dash, squats 410, and benches 270.”
As for the wide receiver position, there is 5-foot-11, 185-pound rising senior Jasihya Beauford, who shined at a NYC high school football showcase in the spring.
“Great work ethic, another strong kid for his size,” the Bronx, N.Y. native and Newburgh, N.Y., resident said of Beauford. “He won the top receiver at the Elite V Showcase. He did well, he represented himself well that day.”
On the offensive line, Vega said there will be plenty of players who are hungry and looking to make a name for themselves.
“We have starting rising junior left tackle Jeremy Concepcion,” who is 6-foot-2.5-inch, 275 pounds of prospective high-level talent, Vega explained. “I think Jeremy has a lot of potential. He can move for a big kid. He can be a D1 guy.”
At left guard, there will be rising senior Eric French-Lynch, a backup last season.
“He’s a strong kid,” the 24-year high school veteran coach said of French-Lynch. “He’s going to be all right as a starter.”
Lining up at center will be rising junior Alie Sankareh, a player who enrolled late last year, and had JFK varsity plugging him at junior varsity so he could learn the system.
“He would have played varsity, but he came late to the school, in January”, Vega said. “There wasn’t enough time to teach him the varsity system. We wanted him to play and learn. He’s a smart kid, and tough. He’s going to be good.”
Rounded out the O-Line is rising junior right guard Thomas Ray, whom Vega said will go both ways, and rising junior Edwin Arreola, manning the right tackle spot.
At tight end will be 5-foot-10, 210-pound rising sophomore Avery Reed, whom Vega is expecting decent play from him due to his strength and promising learning curve.
“He’s still learning, be he’s going to be good,” he said. “He’s got good weight room numbers for varsity.”
Vega expects the defense to be a work in progress, but he said he has some solid players ready to impress.
“Defense is a little tricky right now, because we’re not totally set yet,” Vega explained. “But we will work it out as the summer progresses.”
The cast of defensive players include Reed, rising senior inside linebacker Abdulkahar Boukari, rising junior outside linebacker Jayvon Adams-Simmons, newcomer and corner back Alexnel Cruz, among others.
While hope remains high for the 2025 PSAL season, Vega said he assesses success by two standards, things that he and his coaches have helped their guys accomplish in the past. So, this year should be pretty much the same as previous seasons, he noted.
“The way I measure success are by how many kids graduate and go to college,” he genuinely, enthusiastically said.
The Knights kickoff non-league action against A. Philip Randolph on Saturday, August 30th at 6:30 p.m. at home. Then, JFK will open the PSAL campaign versus A Conference opponent Erasmus Hall on Saturday, September 13th at noon at Sid Luckman Field in Midwood, Brooklyn, near the F train’s Bay Parkway stop.
— Jerry Del Priore
Photos: TNOLYOICS, Prolific Sports Lab, and Sage Media.
NY NJ Sports World/Brooklyn Sports World 