Once upon a time when I played high school football, the idea of a forward pass was a foreign concept to me.
I played for Chuck Friend at Neshoba Central and I bet we didn’t throw the football 20 times in the three years that I played. They called him “Ground Chuck” and he was the master of the straight-T offense, a throw-back to an era that has passed us by.
Now, everyone wants to run the spread offense, rarely playing with tight ends. Most teams roll out on the field with three or four wide receivers.
But with the exception of Newton this year, I don’t think we will see a lot of passing this season. Union, Lake, Newton County Academy and Newton County will all have new quarterbacks this year.
In Lake, the Hornets had a chance to do something special last year but quarterback Deyton Lingle hurt his back and never played a down. That put Jay Jimison back at quarterback and the Hornets struggled to a 1-9 record. Insert new coach Tate Hanna and the Hornets should be back to their old ways. Hanna, a former offensive lineman, says he loves the power running game and will sprinkle in the play-action pass. If the Hornets are going to be successful, I suspect it will be on the legs of Marcus Qualls, who had 963 yards last year. Hanna thinks his talented senior can reach over 1,500 this year.
Up the road in Decatur, you can also expect Newton County Academy to throw it a lot less. Quarterback Braden Smith finished with more than 2,000 yards last year and was an MAIS all-star. Also gone is the younger Rob Roberts, who served as offensive coordinator. The older Roberts will have more of a hand in play calling this year and he believes in two things, defense and running the football. Look for a big year out of Braxton Rose (743 yards) and a stable of other NCA running backs.
At Newton County, the Cougars may line up in the spread but found most of their success last year by running the football. Coach Gene Mitchell has said he expects to run the ball more this year. Running back Marcus Wash is back after a solid sophomore year in which he rushed for 796 yards. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Wash get over the 1,000-yard mark this season.
In Union, long-time coach Brad Breland must replace quarterback Tradarius Harris, who accounted for the majority of the Yellowjackets offense. Right now, it looks like senior Trent Hanna will be the signal caller but I really expect to see the Jackets run the ball more than they did last year with backs Micheal McDonald and Jevon Williams.
The only exception to the run-first concept in Newton County will be Newton. The Tigers have one of the best collection of skill players in the state and the only returning quarterback in the county in Tre Hillie. Ryan Smith likes to throw the ball and has the athletes to stretch the field. But look out for Sirvares Snow on the ground. Snow is strong as an ox and fast as a fox. A broken hand kept him from running the ball a lot last year. When he did get healthy, he ran for 183 yards on 13 carries against Enterprise. With Snow healthy, I expect Smith to hand it to him a few more times this year and he’s dynamite with the ball in his hands.
So while more and more teams move to the spread and passing game, I expect more running in the county this year and that’s just fine with me and Coach Chuck Friend.
