2011 preview: HHS coach feels better about QB situation
By CONOR NICHOLL
Coach Ryan Cornelsen slightly dropped his forehead and put his left hand on his head when he thought back to last season's frustrating experience at quarterback for the Hays High School football team. Early in the season, backup Derek Bixenman suffered a season-ending knee injury while playing defense in a junior varsity game. In the first half of a Week 6 loss to Dodge City, starting quarterback Austin Unrein tore his medial collateral ligament in his knee and missed the rest of the year.
Later that game, backup Dylan Scoby also had a knee injury and Taylor Renz had to finish the contest. The following week, four different players, Brad Desbien, Jarrett Sanders, Jake Sedbrook and running back Casey Sedbrook, saw some time under center in a loss to rival Great Bend. Desbien hurt his elbow. Jake Sedbrook mainly played quarterback the last two games with a broken hand. Even with the multiple injuries, Hays High still finished 7-2 and barely missed the playoffs.
"It was crazy," Cornelsen said. "I can remember after the loss to Dodge, we started bringing guys in on Friday night. We got home and I was in here at 11 o'clock with Brad running through offense and then we did a Saturday, Sunday practice to try to make somebody ready."
This season, Cornelsen, in his third year, feels more at ease with his quarterbacks -- and will expect more production, especially in the passing game.
In his first two seasons, Cornelsen asked his quarterbacks, Bryant Bombardier and Unrein, both inexperienced, to manage the offense and be efficient.
In 2009, Bombardier passed for 646 yards, led the WAC in yards per pass attempt and had a 148.5 passer rating. Last year, Unrein passed for 350 yards and had a 183.6 passer rating.
This season, Unrein, now a senior, understands the offense better.
"I actually know what's going on now and know what everybody is supposed to be doing around me," Unrein said. "I feel like I still have to prove to these guys that I can lead without getting injured."
Bixenman, a junior, and talented freshman Alex Delton will back up Unrein. Delton collected 857 yards of total offense and led Felten Middle School to a 7-0 record in 2010. Cornelsen said he "feels comfortable" with any of the three under center.
"There is no doubt that his leadership skills should start to stand out more," Cornelsen said of Unrein. "His ability as an athlete should show up more. Last year, he wasn't seeing the lanes necessarily. He was just running the offense and trying not to mess up. This year, we feel like he will start to see lanes and see what's going on, and being able to just let his athletic ability take over and not so much a robot like he was last year."
More production from Unrein is likely necessary if Hays High wants to become one of Class 5A's top teams. Cornelsen would like to get to the point where Hays High can "throw when we want to throw."
"Last year, I felt like we could throw as long as you kind of tricked us into letting us get open," Cornelsen said.
In 2010, the eight teams that advanced to the second round of the Class 5A playoffs all had a quarterback that accounted for at least 900 total yards and/or earned all-conference honors. Three of those signal-callers earned all-state.
"We feel like one of our biggest goals is that we have got to run better out of the spread stuff, and we have got to be able to throw better out of tight formations, run formations," Cornelsen said. "If we can do that, then we can really improve our chances of winning big games drastically. I think Austin is a lot more mature in understanding our offense and being able to throw the ball. Time will tell, but I would guess that we are going to throw it quite a bit more."