Going airborne
Jason Hornick/News & Messenger
Woodbridge QB Frank Buckley has thrown for 738 yards in his first year as a starter.
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By Joe Conroy
Published: October 12, 2008
Few other positions in any game have as much scrutiny. In the NFL and at the college level no other spot on athletic fields is as dissected; none have the same controversies and competitions.
At the high school level the position is treated a bit differently, usually with a different kind of athlete tasked with the job, but the pressures often times remain the same.
Hylton head coach Lou Sorrentino says the first thing he asks when evaluating a team heading into a new season is whether or not the quarterback is returning.
“To me, a quarterback, like the head coach, when things go well we probably get too much credit and when things go wrong we probably get too much of the blame,” said Sorrentino, who has Joel Himan leading the Bulldogs’ offense this year. “It’s the toughest position on the field. They’ve got to do a lot of thinking and make a lot of decisions.”
Two of the biggest changes at quarterback for this season (both literally and figuratively) has been Bo Revell at Battlefield and Woodbridge’s Frank Buckley. Each saw some time under center in 2007 after injuries to the starters on their respective teams, but neither has many varsity starts on his resumé.
Revell’s size is the first thing that strikes most fans and coaches. Standing 6-foot-6, Revell drew a lot of “Look at the size of that kid” comments when he took control of the Bobcats’ offense in the 2008 season opener at Potomac.
“Bo is the real deal,” said Kevin Smith, Woodbridge quarterbacks coach/offensive coordinator. “I saw him play Potomac in the first game and he threw a 40-yard strike off his back foot and it was on the money. You don’t see that that often in high school.”
Battlefield has Adrian Ingram in the backfield, one of the area’s top running backs, but Revell has already thrown for 752 yards and seven touchdowns with a 57.6 completion percent. The junior, who passed for 242 yards and two touchdowns against Hylton Sept. 19, is almost a perfect example of the prototypical pocket passer: a big kid with a strong arm and good vision downfield.
“He can throw the deep ball,” said Cox, who played quarterback at Annandale High and Virginia Tech. “His feet are getting better and he’s still kind of young. His feet were slow, but that’s improved.”
Revell is also almost the exact opposite of most high school QBs. Usually coaches put their most athletic player there, someone who can make things happen with his feet, throw a little bit, but is mostly a playmaker without a true position. Think Michael Vick or former Osbourn standout Brandon Hogan.
The trend back to the pro-style quarterback can be attributed to a few factors. The first is whether the ability is there to begin with.
When Smith was organizing the offensive strategy after losing last year’s starter Jake Myer to graduation, Smith realized that, like Revell, the 6-4 Buckley is not in that Vick mold when it comes to mobility, but has a good arm with strength.
“They’re not the most mobile of QBs,” Smith said. “We kind of had to take that approach. It’s tough now because everybody wants the dual threat, Pat White kind of player. Sometimes those pro-style quarterbacks get lost in the shuffle. Battlefield and we are coaching to our strengths.”
It’s harder to find players that have the ability to threaten the defense with the passing game at the high school level, but Buckley, Himan, Revell and others are doing just that.
Buckley has actually been more accurate than Revell in a similar number of attempts, completing 58.6 percent, the best in the area. He’s also thrown for 738 yards and four scores.
Several others, including Potomac’s DeAirius Thomas (469 yards, five TDs), Bruce Facundus at Forest Park (615 yards, 55.9 percent complete) and Quantico’s Brenton Roberts (451 yards and four TDs through five games) are giving defenses one more thing to think about when they lineup.
“Now that Woodbridge has a good quarterback, that helps them tremendously,” Cox said. “It doesn’t take a spectacular person at quarterback, because (De’Antwan) Williams can make him look good and he can make Williams better. Not that Buckley hasn’t been good, but they help each other.”
Cox adds that a similar situation exists between Revell and Ingram, feeding off one another’s successes and the defense having to be wary of both.
“That’s huge,” Smith said. “They’re still stacking the box, but Rocket (Williams) is starting to notice they’re not stacking it as much. And Rocket can go out on (pass) routes more. He’s got great hands.”
Sorrentino has used Bill Nyantakyi mostly as Hylton’s feature back, and Himan has benefitted as well, making teams respect play-action fakes to the tune of 609 yards and six touchdowns. About 300 of those yards came against Battlefield in the 27-21 shootout in Haymarket.
Another reason for the mini quarterback boom is the proliferation of the West Coast offense in the NFL and college. Having a school as close as West Virginia and the Washington Redskins both using variations of the system has meant players have been exposed to the passing game on TV and the excitement it brings.
“The kids like it a lot more,” Cox said. “A lot of colleges have gone to the West Coast offense. Even Osbourn and OP are doing more of what West Virginia is doing. It’s the popular thing now.”
“It makes it more fun for some of the guys,” Sorrentino said. “We might take a typical basketball kid that likes to run and jump, this is more fun than blocking eight out of 10 times.”
Sorrentino adds that the spread of passing camps throughout the country has also contributed. Now players can play 7-on-7 over the summer, often times with their high school receivers, building relationships and working on timing.
“I wish it was like this when I played,” said Smith, who was a signal caller at Gar-Field and then at Towson. “(This year) we had a county one and we went to Richmond.
“We don’t have spring ball here so this is a good way to see them before preseason. We can correct mistakes from the beginning,” Smith said. “That’s where (Buckley) grew up and our receivers grew up. That’s bonus time.”
The Hylton coaching staff has even tailored some of what the Bulldogs do based on Himan’s skill set and size. At just 5-10, Himan is rolled out on most pass plays so he can get a clear view of his receivers downfield.
“We’ll have some ideas as a coaching staff and then we’ll go to our quarterback and say, ‘What do you like there?’” Sorrentino said. “There are certain things that we like, but if he can’t see it, execute it or doesn’t feel good about it, it’d be a bad move for me to force him into that.”
And that’s the biggest part of finding a quarterback: putting the best possible option in the best possible position to succeed. For some it may be a run-first, pass-second athlete, others an old-school gunslinger.
But for now, it’s the year of the passing fancy.
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