The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Sophomore signal caller steps in
Highly touted Kipp now behind center for the Cardinals
There’s an old adage that suggests, “You’ll lose one game for every sophomore you start.”
If one of those starting 10th graders is your quarterback, well, most would prescribe Dramamine and Pepto-Bismol for all the ups and downs and stomach woes that will ensue.
Except at Mentor, where the history of starting sophomore quarterbacks is decorated.
The Cardinals will turn the reins of their fastpaced, high-scoring offense to sophomore Ian Kipp in hopes that he follows in the shoes of the last two 10thgraders they have started — Mitchell Trubisky and Tadas Tatarunas.
A 6-foot-3, 200-pounder with a rocket for an arm and a sharp mind that dissects defenses, Kipp grew up sitting in Jerome T. Osborne Stadium watching Trubisky lead the Cardinals to the highest level of Division I football.
As a freshman, Kipp served as Tatarunas’ understudy at quarterback and also got playing time late in the season as a defensive back in Mentor’s run to the Division I state championship game.
Is Ian Kipp the next big thing?
Is he the next in line of Mentor quarterbacks to start as a sophomore and turn into a record-setter in the mold of Trubisky (9,126 yards passing, 92 touchdowns) and Tatarunas (8,676 yards, 78 touchdowns)?
Tap the brakes, Kipp said.
“I don’t want to be Mitch,” Kipp said. “I want to be myself. I do want to get to the NFL, but want it to be my way. I want to follow Mitch’s footsteps, but I don’t want to be Mitch. “I just want to be me.” Which is a pretty impressive spectacle in itself.
Watching Kipp at Mentor’s practices against a Cardinals defense that returns nine starters from a team that finished as the Division I state runner-up shows a quarterback who is comfortable throwing all the routes — short or deep — and is able to read defenses and check down to a third or fourth receiver, if needed.
About the only thing that didn’t go right for Kipp in a recent scrimmage was when he ran for a touchdown and then trotted off the field when the Cardinals still had a few plays left in their set of 10.
“Hey Hollywood, where you goin’?” Mentor coach Steve Trivisonno said. “Get back out there.”
Trivisonno grinned and shook his head. But in all seriousness, he knows he has a good one in Kipp.
“He’s going to be the real deal,” Trivisonno said. “He’s a big, tall, strong-armed, athletic kid. We’re excited where he’s at.”
Kipp smiled when describing the butterflies he felt last season when he was called on to take some mopup snaps in a Mentor blowout. His hands were shaking.
“And all I had to do was hand the ball off,” he said with a laugh.
But that experience, and that of playing defensive back in playoff games, will help this year.
“It was huge for him,” Trivisonno said. “Any chance you get to take Friday night reps is good. He’ll still have to learn under fire, but everybody has to do that at some point.”
Kipp said playing defensive back last year allowed him to see coverages from the other side of the line of scrimmage. Blitz packages and how defenses disguise them might be easier to decipher because of that experience, he said.
Something else that plays into the maturation process is the inexperienced skill set around him. Junior Luke Floriea, who probably would have been the quarterback if Kipp hadn’t ascended to this point, is the only returning starter at receiver. Running backs Ryan Trobel and Varney Spansel are also new.
But the big, physical offensive line features Big Ten recruits Ryan Jacoby (Mentor) and Nick Samac (Michigan State).
“I am so confident in everyone around me,” Kipp said. “I know we can get right back to where we were last year and hopefully win it this year. Our team is just as good or better than last year.”
Mentor starts its season Aug. 24 against St. Edward. A week later, St. Ignatius is on the schedule. A brutal run through the stacked Greater Cleveland Conference is also on tap.
Trivisonno said he is confident his Cardinals are up to the challenge, armed with a sophomore quarterback.
Why wouldn’t he be confident?
The last two times Mentor turned to a sophomore quarterback, things turned out pretty darn well.
“I just want to get out there and play,” Kipp said. “I’m not nervous. I know my ability, and I’m confident I can play at this level.”