Chandler football seeks answers at key positions as spring begins
Chandler is still fast. Still big. Still tough. Still physical. Still deep.
But who is going to the lead this football team entering the 2021 season?
Who will be throwing touchdown passes?
Who will be running for touchdowns? “Guys got to fill in, man,” coach Rick Garretson said Monday on the first day of spring football practices for the fivetime defending state champion Wolves.
Gone is quarterback Mikey Keene, who went 23-0 with two Open Division state championships as the starting quarterback. He is now enrolled at the University of Central Florida, getting a head start on college life.
Gone is running back Eli Sanders, the team’s leading rusher (1,337 yards, 23 TDs), who scored the winning TD in overtime of the Open Division semifinal against Peoria Liberty. He has signed with Iowa State.
Also gone is Sanders’ backup, Nicolas Nesbitt.
Bring on the next wave.
On Monday, Garretson watched a stable of quarterbacks in red jerseys run the plays.
There was Blaine Hipa, Kenneth Cooper, Ethan Moore, Xavier Castillo among them. On the side, watching, was Junior Nsubuga, who didn’t practice, because he’s getting to run the 100 meters on Wednesday in the Division I state track and field championships at Desert Vista.
“That’s what the evaluation is for for the next three weeks,” Garretson said.
Chandler decided to move the start of spring football back to May 10, because it has so many players who compete in track and field.
There were still plenty of speed on display Monday with Ohio State-committed wide receiver Kyion Grayes leading the way.
Grayes, wearing Ohio State gloves, is as eager as anybody to see who emerges as the heir apparent to Keene.
There’s a lot of pressure to follow Keene, who never lost a game as the varsity starter.
“To be able to bring in that much talent at quarterback, it’s crazy,” Grayes said. “It’s going to be a great competition among all of them. I really can’t wait to see what they can do.”
This spring, Chandler suddenly became an out-of-state magnet for talented quarterbacks. Moore moved in from California, Cooper from Texas and Hipa from Hawaii. Castillo transferred from Laveen Cesar Chavez, where football season lasted only three weeks in 2020 in the Phoenix Union High School District.
They’re all 6-2 or taller. Cooper is built like a defensive end or tight end at 6-5, 230 pounds.
Hipa, 6-3, 200, has the most hype, even though he lost out on his junior season with Hawaii not playing football because of COVID-19 safety protocols.
He impressed enough in his first two years in high school to get offers from the University of Hawaii and Tennessee and to be rated the 58th-best prostyle quarterback in the country for the 2022 class.
“It makes you focus on getting better every day,” Hipa said about the competition. “You have pressure on yourself. It makes you work that much harder.”
Cooper came in from Pebble Hills in El Paso. He knew the competition he was about to face.
“It makes sure your consistency level is on point every single day,” Cooper said. “Just make sure you’re right mentally and physically.”
The stable of running backs has not dried up at Chandler.
Junior Jeremiah Moore now likely steps into the No. 1 tailback role with sophomore Charles Ennis Jr., ready to come into his own.
Moore, 5-10, 200, played in all 10 games last season, rushing for 361 yards on 35 carries.
Freshman Ca’lil Valentine emerge as soon as next season.
It’s not a matter of having the talent to replace guys like Keene and Sanders.
It’s a matter now of who is going to emerge.
“Let’s see how you can move the team,” is the message Garretson is giving his quarterbacks. “Let’s see if you understand the offense. Let’s see if you can take control of your responsibility and make things happen at that position.”
“It’s a pretty important position,” Garretson added.
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