Jonathon Littlejohn’s senior year of football didn’t turn out the way he envisioned it at Colonial High School, but his all-out effort on both sides of the ball paid off. Last week, on national signing day, Littlejohn signed a letter of intent to play football at Lehigh University, where he’ll major in engineering.
He had previously considered Army and Navy before settling on his school of choice in Bethlehem, Pa. And after seeing limited action as a junior, before enduring a disappointing season with the Grenadiers this past fall, it seems adjusting to a change in climate will likely be nothing more than a minor obstacle to overcome for Littlejohn.
After all, two years ago it seemed as though he was a front-runner for the starting quarterback job before a new head coach instead relied on a senior wide receiver to direct the offense. That only fueled the fire in Littlejohn, who made sure not to divert his efforts by joining the track and field team and continued to work out during the offseason with great results.
“That really made me mad because I felt like I should have been in there,” said Littlejohn of his junior year, before conceding that he wasn’t as good an athlete then as he is now. Without the depth from a year ago Littlejohn was one of the few bright spots on the team his senior season while playing both quarterback and safety for head coach Steve Breitbeil. “This year I never came off the field, so that was a lot of fun,” said Littlejohn.
“I loved it because I’m a competitor.” The downside was that the playing time came for a 1-9 team. “It was real hard because we were supposed to up the bar this year and we weren’t able to do that,” he said. “But it happens sometimes, having a tough season. “Adversity is always going to happen and the best thing you can do is learn from it and get better from it.”
It’s an example of some of the lessons he’s learned from his teachers at CHS, whom he credits for always showing interest in his progress as a student-athlete and striving to help him succeed. Now it seems the future is solely in his own hands when it comes to playing football.
Littlejohn said he’ll have a better idea about what side of the ball he’ll be lining up on once he begins working out with the Mountain Hawks after graduation. “I’ll have to go up there during the summer to get some practices in and see how I can get on the field the quickest,” he said. Or maybe even how he can avoid ever coming off it.
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