Walker Valley Excited to Return Quarterback Evan Schwarzl
Cleveland, TN-(WDEF-TV) Walker Valley slipped into the playoffs last season despite having a losing record.
The Mustangs should like their chances of getting a winning record this season because they have one of high school football’s biggest luxuries. They return their starting quarterback.
News 12’s Brian Armstrong rides the Mustangs into the 30-in-30 spotlight.
Walker Valley football. Welcomes back
at quarterback, who is both having fun and ready to take the team to the next level.Coach Aiken says he is tough on QBs, but Schwarzl has responded well.
Said Schwarzl:”Just in the knowledge of the game, and they’re so smart. They have me. They get me on the board. And so I see everything. I understand it.And when I’m in a game, it’s just just like the board.”
Said head coach Drew Akins:”And he’s had a great offseason. He had a great spring practice. He has all the tools. His decision making has been outstanding. He’s as talented as a kid as we have now. It’s just building those leadership qualities that will take him to the next level, bring those people with him, and he’s done a great job of that this summer. We rely on him. He knows we rely on him, and he stepped up that challenge.”
Said Schwarzl:”They put me in the leadership position, man. Just put me at a place where I can read and speak my mind and speak my voice.”
Aikens knows the passing attack will be there, but those lanes will open up better if Walker Valley needs to be able to run the football.
Said Akins:”We just haven’t been able to run the football well enough in the past two seasons to be able to get to our passing game. When they’re allowed to drop seven or eight in the end of passing lanes and you can’t run the football to hurt them, that makes it difficult. So we’ve put a lot on our offensive line. We’ve changed some scheme stuff that I feel like makes us better, but we’ve got to be able to run the football to protect the pass.”
On the defensive side of the ball, the team needs to replace leading tackler and now alumni Eli Denton
Said Akins:”It’s almost the money ball situation where you just try to get three guys that can get as many tackles as Eli by himself. We got a good core linebackers. Jacob Hollingsworth has had a great offseason, and he’s going to be our leader in that group, but we’re going to have to have guys all around him. And we’ve told Jacob all the way through, it like, you don’t have Eli beside you anymore, so you’re now the guy that’s got to go make those plays. And Jacob stepped up to that challenge.”
