Thursday, November 19, 1998

Year of the quarterback

By Al Pickett / Sports Editor

This has certainly been the year of the quarterback in Big Country high school football.

Brownwood's Coby Freeman is one of the state's top quarterback prospects, drawing the attention of Nebraska, Texas and Texas A&M, among others. He may very well be the best option quarterback in the state.

But there are plenty of other quarterbacks enjoying terrific seasons in the Big Country. Stephenville's Kelan Luker led Class 4A in passing during the regular season. Cliff Watkins of unbeaten, top-ranked Breckenridge is drawing the attention of college scouts, too.

Other quarterbacks - including Albany's Tony Wheeler, Cooper's Dowell Loggains, Colorado City's Justin Hill and Kenny Whittenburg of unbeaten No. 2-ranked Winters, just to name a few - have put up some impressive passing numbers.

Overlooked by some in that list of passing quarterbacks enjoying successful seasons is Jim Ned's Cole Egger, who is the pilot of the Indians' "Air West" offense.

"Oh yeah, we've passed more this year," said Jim West, in his eighth season as the head football coach at Jim Ned. "That's mainly because of the quarterback."

Egger has completed 120 of 272 pass attempts this season for 2,068 yards and 15 touchdowns. That's an average of more than 24 pass attempts per game, a far cry from the "run the ball and play it close to the vest" Wing-T offenses for which West Texas high school football has long been known.

"It really has evolved," West said. "If you don't have quality people in the secondary, you'll get burned for a lot of points. We all watch TV on Saturday, and our game (high school football) is following what the colleges are doing.

"Of course, it perpetuates itself. Kids see Egger throw, and now we have younger kids wanting to throw the ball."

West calls the Indians' offense a "homogenized attack" which has taken elements from several different offenses including John Jenkins' run-and-shoot at the University of Houston. The Indians use two-back, one-back and no-back formations.

We're calling it "Air West."

Egger has been intercepted 18 times this season, but West said that figure is a little deceiving.

"Some of those were desperation end-of-the-half things," he said, "and sometimes he's gone color-blind."

Last week Egger was 8 of 17 for 175 yards and one touchdown in the Indians' 21-7 Class 2A Division I bi-district victory over Floydada. That was a low total for Egger, but looked like an air assault to a Floydada team which had thrown only 40 passes all season going into the game.

West said the teams from the South Plains and Panhandle are still predominately running teams.

"One of the Floydada kids told our kids in the third quarter he was really tired chasing the quarterback," West said. "We're definitely giving them something they haven't seen."

West hopes that is the case again Friday night when the Indians meet Canadian - a team from the Panhandle - in the area round in Vernon. Canadian is averaging only five or six pass attempts per game.

This is new ground for Jim Ned (6-5), which is making only its second playoff appearance since the Indians reached the state semifinals in 1974. West guided Jim Ned to the playoffs in 1993, but the Indians lost to eventual state champion Goldthwaite, 35-0, in bi-district.

So last week's win over Floydada represented Jim Ned's first football playoff victory in 24 years, and now the Indians are looking for more.

All aboard "Air West."

Al Pickett can be reached at 676-6772 or picketa@abinews.com.