Abilene High’s Animal Squad

Eagles’ offense to be led by a ‘turtle,’ ‘lama’

By Noell Barnidge
Reporter-News Staff Writer
August 24, 2003

In the name of winning, Abilene High School’s football team has entrusted two players nicknamed “Turtle” and “Tony Lama” with the responsibility of leading the Eagles’ offense this season.

“Turtle” is two-year varsity starter Dwayne Conner, a 5-foot-10, 170-pound wide receiver. “Tony Lama” is three-year varsity starter Tony Richards, a 6-foot, 220-pound offensive lineman.

AHS head coach Steve Warren calls Conner and Richards the Eagles’ top college prospects. He is counting on the senior duo to be the backbone and calming influence of an offense that returns only three starters from last year’s team. Senior offensive lineman Brice Johnson, 5-foot-10, 195-pound center, became a regular starter during the second half of last season.

“Me and Turtle are going to do our best to lead the offense,” Richards said. “We talked about it a lot when we worked out together every day during summer (conditioning). There’s a lot of pressure on me and Turtle. The coaches ask us to talk to the other players, to pick them up and keep the team spirit high.”

Conner became known as “Turtle” because he father, Dwayne, was dubbed “Turtle” when he played at wide receiver for Abilene High in the late 1970s.

“The coaches called my dad ‘Turtle’ back when he played for Abilene High so they just passed it down to me,” Conner said. “Coach (Larry) Hoefer, who’s now a coach at Baylor, was my dad’s wide receiver coach at Abilene High and he gave my dad the nickname.”

Of Richards’ nickname, he said, “my teammates call me ‘Tony Lama,’ for the boots and because my name is Tony L. Richards. My middle name is Lee. I don’t know why, but that’s what they do.”

Conner and Richards have committed themselves to making AHS’ offense as strong as the Eagles’ defense appears to be. AHS returns six defensive starters from a team that last season finished 10-2 overall and second (4-1) in District 3-5A. The Eagles’ season ended with a 35-21 loss to Lubbock Monterey in a Class 5A, Division II area-round playoff game.

For AHS to make the playoffs for a fifth consecutive season, Conner and Richards say the Eagles’ offense cannot be a weak link.

Conner, who is being heavily recruited by Baylor University and Texas Tech University, said there is no place for individual egos.

“In the spring, my focus was more on me,” Conner admitted. “My ego was out of check. I knew I was going to be the go-to guy (this season), but I wasn’t focused on the team. I was only thinking about me.”

A more mature “Turtle” is a welcome addition to AHS’ football program.

“Turtle’s maturity level, both on and off the field, is his key to having a great year,” Warren said. “You can’t just get by on talent, and he knows that. He’s seen too many kids with talent that didn’t make it to the next level, or their team didn’t make it to the next level, because they didn’t do what they were capable of doing.”

As a junior, Conner caught 14 passes for 202 yards and two touchdowns. He is AHS’ go-to receiver this season, filling the void left by graduates Jerale Badon (Abilene Christian University), Kendrick Starks (Angelo State University) and Andre Washington (Hardin-Simmons University).

“Turtle is a lot like Jerale, although we don’t like to compare our kids,” Warren said. “He’s got the same good fundamentals. He does the little things, like looking the ball into his hands when he catches it, and tucking it away after the catch.”

The objective of the spread offense, a staple in AHS’ attack, is to force opposing teams to defend in man-to-man coverage and attempt to exploit those individual match-ups.

To be a big-play threat at wide receiver, Conner said AHS will need its running backs to keep defenses from keying on the Eagles’ passing game.

“With our running game, they’re going to bring the defense closer, and that’s going to open it up for us outside guys,” Conner said. “Our quarterbacks (Ben Hamilton and Minor Alexander) are both smart, so if our offensive line can allow them to stay in the pocket and give us time to get open, they’ll find us.”

Warren said AHS has the best running backs in District 3-5A in junior Kobey Lewis, senior Jonathan Sims and juniors Marquees Haynes and Tavares Sharp, whom Warren said will split time at wide receiver.

Lewis rushed for 371 yards and nine touchdowns on 64 carries during the regular season last year.

For AHS’ passing and running games to be effective, Richards and his fellow offensive linemen must pull their weight.

Actually, Richards said the offensive line’s success is based less on weight and more on speed.

“Our offensive line is all about speed,” said Richards, a guard. “I think defenses are going to bring it this year and blitz all the time because they know Marcus (Johnson) isn’t here anymore at quarterback. But our offensive line is even better than last year. We’re so much faster this year. “

Joining Richards and Johnson on the offensive line is senior tight tackle John Algood, senior split guard Cole Stevens and junior split tackle Derrick Bibb.

“There’s definitely going to be mistakes during the season because we don’t have experience in games,” Richards said. “You just grow into it.”

Richards predicted it will take AHS’ offensive line about two games before it jells into a cohesive unit.

Richards made AHS’ varsity as a sophomore linebacker but injuries to teammates forced him to shift to the offensive line. He is listed at 235 pounds on AHS’ 2003 roster but said he is down to 220 pounds, the result of intensive summer workouts and daily runs of up to two miles.

He played last season at 245 pounds but said he feels quicker at 220 pounds. He bench presses 320 pounds and runs a 4.9-second 40-yard dash, an improvement from the 5.1-second 40-yard dash he ran at 245 pounds.

“I wanted to lose some weight. I didn’t like being that heavy,” Richards said. “I haven’t lost any of my strength, just the belly.

“I felt great in the spring game. I came off the ball a lot quicker. I wanted to lose the weight because I think I’ll probably play linebacker in college. I’m just not big enough to play on the offensive line at the college level.”

Richards is receiving letters from colleges that are interested in him academically.

He is a straight-A student and is ranked 28th out of 476 students in AHS’ senior class. He plans to major in construction engineering and is considering attending Hardin-Simmons University and playing football for the Cowboys.

“Tony is one of the hardest workers we’ve had around here,” Warren said. “He’s done everything he can do to improve as a football player. He’s not the greatest athlete, but he’s done the things he needed to do to make himself into a competitive football player.”