Manassas Park grad getting the job done

By Chris Lang Media General News Service
Published: August 13, 2008

LYNCHBURG — Zach Terrell has scored at least one touchdown in each of his last 16 games. He ran for 763 yards last season and broke the 100-yard mark three times. Six times in his Liberty career, he’s scored two touchdowns in a game, and during his freshman year, he ran for 241 yards in a loss to Chattanooga.
Yet no one is talking about the Manassas Park graduate. That’s understandable. He’s not even the most highly regarded tailback on his team. That honor goes to Rashad Jennings, the nation’s top FCS tailback, according to The Sports Network. The lack of preseason honors doesn’t seem to bother Terrell, who is generally quiet and unassuming.
Of course, calling Terrell a tailback this season might be a stretch. There’s a reason Liberty coach Danny Rocco created the hybrid “A-back” position, and it wasn’t just to massage Terrell’s ego by adding an extra position to the depth chart so he could list the 6-foot, 200-pound senior as a starter.
Terrell has spent much of Flames’ training camp working with Liberty’s receivers. As a result, he’s improved his route running and his hands and has become the Flames’ third best receiver, behind starters Dominic Bolden and Jonathan Crawford.
But just when you think Terrell has made a full-blown conversion to wideout, you’ll see him back with the running backs, darting through holes and using his sublime cutting ability to make a defender look foolish.
“He’s the type of kid who can make plays in a lot of different positions,” Jennings said. “The coaches are going to put him in a good spot where he can make plays for the team.”
From series to series, that spot will be anyone’s guess, which is the way Liberty’s coaching staff wants it.

Terrell might line up in the backfield in a two-back set, or as the feature back in a one-back rotation when Jennings needs a rest. He’ll line up in the slot as a third receiver or even on the edge as a primary target. He’ll run out of the I and catch passes in the flat from the two-back set. Terrell will even start in motion as a receiver and take handoffs on reverse plays.
In an offense that already features Jennings and Brock Smith, the FCS’ 13th-rated quarterback, Terrell adds the sort of wild-card presence that can drive an opposing defensive coordinator nuts.
“Zach is in the best shape of his life,” Rocco said. “The role that we have for Zach this year is going to allow him to show his skill, both as a ballcarrier and as a receiver. I just think that we’ve got a package for him that will really have people having to make sure they can account for him at all times.
“And that’s when we’ll have a chance to get Rashad up in there and make a big play inside.”
There was some question before the season whether Terrell, who ran a 4.5 in the 40 during Liberty’s pro timing day in March, would be part of the offense at all. Terrell, the Group A player of the year as a senior at Manassas Park, never took his redshirt during a freshman year in which he started the season as a reserve quarterback and ended it as the Flames’ top tailback.
He was still in the running for the starting quarterback job heading into his sophomore year, but Smith seized that role in the summer, leaving Terrell in the backfield with Jennings. Terrell considered using his redshirt this season, so he could have one full season as the Flames’ featured back in 2009 once Jennings graduates.
“Coach Rocco kind of told me that it would be better for me to show my versatility this year,” Terrell said.
Said Rocco: “We had the discussion on a couple of occasions. There’s always pros and cons to everything you do and everything you look at. I think this is a year that we’re convinced that we have a chance to really do something. We were both in agreeance that we needed him on the field to be able to make that kind of statement.”
Once Terrell decided against using the redshirt, he spent the summer working with Liberty reserve quarterback Michael Brown, trying to improve both his hands and his route running.
“He’s a good natural athlete, so skill-wise, it’s not a big change for him to become a wide receiver,” Flames receivers coach Charlie Skalaski said. “There is certainly a difference in running vertical routes, versus, you know, most of the routes out of the backfield are swing routes or laterals. He’s improved his ability in running the more vertical routes. He’s done a fine job.”
Terrell may not be receiving the same sort of preseason accolades as Jennings, but the Flames’ offensive staff has made sure he’s not a forgotten member of Liberty’s offense.
“He’s slashy. He’s slippery,” Jennings said. “He’s the type of kid that opens up everything.”