NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — Neither Jackson Powers-Johnson nor Jack Bech can claim to beat Maxx Crosby to the Las Vegas Raiders’ training facility in the offseason as the star defensive end arrives before 6 a.m.
“He gets me by 15 or 20 minutes,” Powers-Johnson said, smiling.
“Unfortunately, same thing,” Bech said.
But both 23-year-old former second-round draft picks emphasized how excited they are about going to work, and not just because the mentorship from Crosby can continue following a rescinded trade. The Raiders brass making splashes to revamp the coaching staff with Klint Kubiak and the roster with center Tyler Linderbaum also represents a fresh start.
“Having an All-Pro (vote-getter) at center, that’s great — and have a guy I can learn from,” the offensive lineman Powers-Johnson said Sunday after playing golf with Bech in the same Pacific Life Celebrity Classic group at the Newport Beach Country Club.
“He’s going to know a lot of the tricks of the trade. Getting to play next to a fellow Rimington winner, that’s awesome. It’s really exciting. He seems like a great dude.”
The Rimington Trophy is awarded annually to college football’s top center, and Powers-Johnson won it two years after Linderbaum did. Powers-Johnson had expressed a desire to play center and entered last year’s training camp in that role, but ended up starting at guard on a struggling offensive line and suffering an ankle injury in Week 10 that left him on injured reserve.
Kubiak said last month that Powers-Johnson’s ability to play multiple spots is “really exciting” and that where he’ll play for the new coaching staff remained to be seen. The Raiders then solidified his role at guard by signing Linderbaum to a record-setting three-year, $81 million deal to play center.
“I’m confident in my future,” Powers-Johnson said. “I think more the biggest thing was I wanted continuity. I had these past two years have been flip-flop, flip-flop and now this gives me an opportunity to get one thing and get really good at it.”
Powers-Johnson said he is heathy and that his ankle feels great. Asked if he could have come back toward the end of a season as the Raiders finished 3-14, he said, “That was kind of more of a trainer-coach situation, not necessarily a me decision.”
With Kubiak and the coaching staff, Powers-Johnson said conversations with them have left him with positive first impressions.
“Young and cool,” Powers-Johnson said of the 39-year-old Kubiak. “He reminds me of (Oregon coach) Dan Lanning a little bit.”
Bech, the second-year wide receiver, has been impressed.
“Oh, he’s awesome,” Bech said of Kubiak. “He’s big into his faith. I’m obviously the same way. So for him just to be able to bring that into our program and just live by that, we’re just so excited. We can’t wait.
“Coach Kubiak and (offensive coordinator Andrew) Janocko and all of them, they’re all offensive masterminds, so I couldn’t be more excited to learn from them and to really dive into the plan they have for us.”
Bech, who had 20 receptions in his rookie season, pointed to how the Raiders did “really well” in free agency — and have Crosby returning after the Baltimore Ravens called off the trade.
“Maxx has really taken me under his wing, going in every morning getting after it,” Bech said. “For us to be able to have somebody like Maxx in my corner being a mentor, the leader, the hard work, he is just teaching me so much.
“I’m ready personally to take a huge step and for the team to take a huge jump.”
Powers-Johnson went from honoring Crosby with an Instagram post about it being “truly an honor” to play with him to experiencing a turn of events within days.
“Hard to lose him, but even better to get him back,” Powers-Johnson said. “It’s a guy who I train with every single day. He’s my guy, so to have him back in the building is a blessing for me.
“Maxx Crosby is Maxx Crosby. Vegas is made for him, and he’s a Raider. So it’s not like he comes back and it’s awkward. He comes in, he’s doing the same thing he’s done every single day. And there’s not one step lost.”
_Contact Diamond Leung at dleung@reviewjournal.com. Follow [@diamond83](https://x.com/diamond83) on X._