Richmond's city football renaissance started with Thomas Jefferson. Now the Vikings are aiming higher.

The Thomas Jefferson football team has outscored its first four opponents 186-12. The Vikings haven’t lost a regular season game in 23 months, and a dozen members of last year’s senior class earned opportunities to play at the collegiate level.

But the Vikings who suited up for practice this week see all that as what is expected.

A handful of years ago the scene was far different, and, frankly, quite bleak.

When second-year head coach Eric Harris arrived on campus the first time, back in 2012 as an assistant for then-new head coach Chad Hornik, the Viking program was in shambles.

“When I got here, we were on a 43-game losing streak,” Harris recalled. “I tell people all the time I am such a huge advocate of coaching and creating a culture. Those same guys that had lost 43 games, when Chad got hired and we finally took the field that spring and worked with those guys, we snapped that losing streak the very first game.”

Building such a culture takes time, but it also takes caring. Fundraisers were held to purchase equipment, to transform locker room and weight room facilities. When Hornik left for Deep Run after the 2015 season, the Vikings had earned their first playoff bid in over three decades. The culture was there.

Harris could see it from afar, having joined the Douglas Freeman staff just prior to Hornik’s departure. He watched as the 2019 Vikings won three postseason games before falling to Stuarts Draft in the Class 2 state semifinals. He knew he would return one day to West Grace Street, even when presented with an enticing opportunity.

“It was a spiritual decision, because what a lot of people don’t know is I was offered a coaching position at my alma mater, Virginia Union, at the same time,” Harris said. “So I was wavering back and forth.”

On a road trip to pick up his son from Ferrum College, Harris realized where he should be.

“At the time when I decided to stay, it was to be offensive coordinator. I had no idea that a month later the (head coaching) job would come open,” Harris said.

Harris and the Vikings did not lose in last year’s regular season, allowing just 67 points to opponents. After a first round win over Goochland, Thomas Jefferson’s season ended at the hands of city rival Armstrong in the Class 3, Region B semifinals.

Now the 2024 Thomas Jefferson football team stands on the shoulders of Chris Calloway, Maurice Watkins, Jaylen Tyler, Shamar Graham, Jalen Jackson and so many others, all of whom understood that winning was not only achievable as a Viking, it would be, and is, considered the standard.

One of those young men is quarterback/cornerback Rashaud Cherry, who is in the conversation for 2024’s best high school football player in the Richmond area.

His 1,290 total yards rank Cherry second in the Commonwealth, accounting for 13 total touchdowns through four contests. He’s also made 27 tackles and forced a fumble on defense. Harris didn’t let him play on the defensive side last season, a decision for the sake of the team. This year, the head coach is also looking out for Cherry’s future.

“This is his senior year. He’s not going to play quarterback at the next level,” Harris explained. “He’s an athlete, so I wanted him to be able to showcase everything that he can do.”

The soft-spoken Cherry, heading to a rainy practice field, was very certain when asked which position he enjoys playing the most.

“I like defense. I like delivering the blow,” Cherry said. “I’ll play every play as if it’s my last.”

He was also quick to praise the men in the trenches, who provide him seams in which to run, and a pocket from which to fire the football downfield. And, according to Harris, Cherry's athleticism is matched by his leadership ability.

“Our offseason was phenomenal, and he was the first to buy in,” Harris said. “We started what we call the Willow Lawn run, where we ran every Thursday from (the school) to Willow Lawn and back. I told the coaches I’m waiting to see who’s the first guy to say, man, I can do this twice, or three times. It was Rashaud.”

Cherry didn’t stop there. Harris noted he would complete the run, then run it a second time with a lineman, running with his teammate at his pace, encouraging them to reach beyond what he thought was his limit.

The success in high school football in Richmond City Public Schools isn’t limited to Thomas Jefferson. Armstrong won its first four games, as has resurgent Huguenot, which returned to the playoffs in Class 4, Region B in 2023. John Marshall won its season opener, as did Richmond High School for the Arts, its first victory since 2021.

But Cherry is adamant that the first school in Richmond to reach the ultimate goal will be Thomas Jefferson. A successful senior season for him?

“Winning a state championship,” Cherry proclaimed.

Richmond city fans should mark their calendars for Nov. 1, when Thomas Jefferson goes to Armstrong. But for now, the only opponent that Harris, Cherry, and the Vikings are focused upon is the next one.

The Vikings face John Marshall in an intra-city showdown on Friday night.