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Thursday, May 1, 2008
Spring QBing
Western Arkansas, AR
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A look at quarterback situations across the 7A West heading into the Spring
Looking at the 7A West signal callers and it’s clear Springdale has the most to look forward to in 2008.
Instead of learning on the fly this spring, Springdale High’s Ashton Glaser and Springdale Har-Ber’s Zach Faust can perfect footwork, timing with receivers and backs, reading defenses and throwing mechanics.
While the strong-armed Faust filled in often off the bench for Har-Ber’s state runner-up team last season, Glaser (6-foot-1, 170 pounds) completed 174 of 298 passes for 2,406 yards and 22 touchdowns as a full-time starter. The senior also rushed for 700 yards to put him over the 3,000 mark for total offense.
“We’re excited about having Ashton back,” said Springdale third-year coach Kevin Johnson. “Last year, we went into it with a little of the unknown. He played well in JV and sophomore games, but you still didn’t know how well he was going to do.”
Faust (5-10, 180) was 71 of 115 for 1,566 yards and 12 touchdowns while splitting time with starter Patrick Calcagni for last season’s conference champs.
“I don’t know how many eye tests he would pass because he’s not the 6-foot-2 or 6-foot-3 guy, but he’s something special,” said Har-Ber third-year coach Chris Wood. “He has all the intangibles and most importantly, he’s a winner. I think he’ll be one of the top QBs in the state.”
Northside returns its starting quarterback in senior Dax Dupire (5-foot-10, 172), who was a fiery competitor but will be pressed this spring by Tanner Knight (6-foot, 155), Darrian Jones (5-foot-8, 137) and sophomore Chris Mays. Knight is a talented move-in from Lavaca.
“We’ve got more QBs than we’ve ever had,” said Grizzlies seventh-year coach Darrell Henry. “We’ve got four possibilities, but Dax is the senior and the one with experience. And we’ve got some quality guys to back him up and push him.”
Across town, Southside fourth-year coach Jeff Williams said he has three quarterbacks competing for the job heading into the spring. Trent Welberne is a senior who knows the offense and is “a great leader,” according to Williams. Juniors Dakota Walden (6-foot, 185) and Eddie Donavan (5-foot-10, 160) also will share varsity snaps this spring.
“We’ll name a starter coming out of spring, but you don’t know how things will go,” Williams said. “That’s very important for your football team. You like to know who is ahead and that’s at every position. You need to let people know where they’re at and where they stand.”
Defending state champ Fayetteville has enormous shoes to fill at quarterback with Blake McDonald graduating this month. He was named to the All-HSSTM Super Squad after setting records for his school and the state’s largest classification with 3,913 passing yards. He also set school records in completions (241), attempts (430), touchdown passes (34) and total offense (4,364) before signing with Missouri Southern.
Vying for the task are seniors Brandon Allen and Scott McFall and juniors Zach Gibson and JT McCormick. Allen is the headsy son of Arkansas assistant Bobby Allen while Scott McFall did not play the past two seasons.
“We have four quarterbacks we feel very good about,” said sixth-year Fayetteville coach Daryl Patton. “They all are great athletes with great arms and good heads on their shoulders. They’ll get an equal number of reps and then we’ll name a No.1 and No. 2 coming out of spring.”
The team Fayetteville knocked off in the state semifinals should be passing the ball more with the able arm of Bentonville senior J.C. King (6-foot-1, 190).
“J.C. played well for us in JV and got a little work last year with the varsity,” said Bentonville fourth-year coach Barry Lunney Sr. “We probably should have played him more in pressure situations last year because he can stretch the field so well with his strong arm.”
Rogers returns experience with junior Andy Couture (5-foot-8, 165). He’ll do much of the same this spring as he did last fall by rotating with senior Michael Tibbs (6-foot, 190) when in the “Moonshine” formation. Austin Young also may take some snaps for certain plays.
Junior Casey Wilbur (6-foot-2, 195) and sophomore Reed Brown (5-foot-8, 160) will compete to be the first starting quarterback at Rogers Heritage High, which won’t field any seniors in its debut this fall.
“With Casey being a junior and having played there, he’s probably in the lead now,” said War Eagles’ coach Perry Escalante. “But spring ball will settle a lot for us.”
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