Evanston's Dabney proves to be fast learner in lacrosse

Junior earns starting role just one week after first trying sport

Junior Josh Dabney has started on both sides of the ball since his sophomore year for the Evanston football team.

But this spring, Dabney decided to try out for lacrosse – a sport he'd never played in his life.

“I was a track guy originally,” Dabney said. “Freshman year, my friends were all like you should play lacrosse, but I never took them up on the idea. Now it’s junior year and it’s my last two years in high school, so I thought why not just try it? So I just came out.”

Like all first-year players, Dabney was in tryouts with the junior varsity squad. But he quickly caught the eye of Evanston assistant coach Steven Hall, who told coach Adam Hughes that he better take a look at one of the kids trying out. Soon after, Hughes asked Dabney to run with the varsity practice. 

“We did a 3-on-2 drill and he was still raw,” Hughes said. “But his ability to move to the ball was great, and he actually stripped the ball from one of our better players. I said, ‘Wow, I’m glad we listened to Coach Hall.”

It didn’t take much longer for Hughes to realize that he not only had a new varsity team member, but also a new starter.

“It is one of those sports where you can have players who have played for years, and they’re still not up to that level,” Hughes said. “For someone just to pick it up one day and actually be good at it is a freak of nature. It’s like winning the lottery. He’s a very skilled individual. There’s a lot of hand-eye coordination that most people just can’t pick up, and for some strange reason he picked it up within the first week.”

Dabney’s rapid ascension to starting long-pole is unique, but the learning process he has undertaken is common among all team sports.

“My teammates have been very good about getting me up to speed and teaching me things I need to know to play good defense,” Dabney said. “The coaches have been good helping me along with that, too.”

However, Hughes notes that as much as the coaching staff has tried teaching the newcomer, he has picked up plenty on his own.

“We didn’t really teach him any checks,” Hughes said. “We were playing more body position. But he just watched his own teammates and essentially simulated all these moves. He just went out on his own limb to learn all the checks.

“He still needs some work on ground balls. But his ability to catch the ball for a first-year player, who’s probably a month, two months into it, is way ahead of the learning curve. Usually with guys like him you give him a short stick so he learns how to handle and catch the ball. But he went straight for the long pole, and he’s had tremendous progress.”

Evanston  football coach Mike Burzawa has coached Dabney the past two football seasons and has witnessed Dabney’s sponge-like ability to learn something new. Dabney has started at guard and H-back on offense and as an end and linebacker on defense.

“There’s no doubt Josh is a student of the game for us,” Burzawa said. “Mentally and physically, I’ve been very impressed with his ability to understand our schemes on offense and defense the last two years. In addition, he was a captain for us this past season as a junior, which is also a great accomplishment. I’m not surprised at all that he’s picking (lacrosse) up pretty easily.”

His exploits on the gridiron gave Dabney an advantage on defense in lacrosse. While track is a non-contact sport, Dabney’s willingness to lay someone out comes as a benefit in lacrosse. Hughes, who most recently played for the Major League Lacrosse’s Chicago Machine in 2008, immediately saw the pros of having a football player on his team.

“There are generally a lot of kids who play other sports and play lacrosse,” Hughes said. “Those are the guys who aren’t very physical. I was a soccer player so I didn’t like getting hit or hitting other people. Josh has that ability where he wants to hit people. That’s definitely a positive thing to have in lacrosse. The footwork is very similar and you want to get low and break down your opponent. I think Josh takes what he learns in football and puts it to use in lacrosse, and that’s very beneficial.”

While earning an immediate starting spot in lacrosse is a big achievement, Dabney has set the bar even higher by the time he graduates next year.

“I want to be good at lacrosse,” Dabney said. “I want to try and get all-conference. That’s a long ways away, but I’ll work at it to see if I can get it.”

A month into the season, Hughes also has some lofty expectations for Dabney based upon his work ethic.
“I personally believe he could be one of the better long poles in the state,” Hughes said. “It’s really up to him. If he picked up the game in one week, I would love to see what he does in the offseason and preseason next year. The more lacrosse he plays, the better he’s going to get.

“I’ve seen it with guys on my team who never really played before who shut down All-Americans and national champions. I really believe Josh can be a very big asset to the team if he continues to learn the game - everything from the small details like where he needs to line up to bigger details of defensive schemes.”​