Competition helps prepare Parker for quarterback job
Kolin Parker didn't start at quarterback as a freshman. He played running back and receiver and was the back-up QB behind his friend Jon Brooks Elia.
Parker was a sophomore on a team quarterbacked by senior Eli Shepherd and last year, as a junior, he was a back-up quarterback behind senior Sharmon Rester.
This season Parker is a senior quarterback at El Dorado. So, is his friend, Elia, who returned to the team after not playing the past two seasons. The two will compete for the starting position that has eluded Parker his career.
“I missed it a lot,” Elia said of playing football. “I wasn't as close to all my friends who played football and I missed hanging out with them.”
Admit it Parker, you kind of hate Elia?
“I wouldn't say hate,” Parker laughed at the joke. “I love him. I love him to death. He just wants to be back with his friends and enjoy the game with us and I'm all for it. I'm hoping we both can rotate out or whatever Coach Jones wants us to do and we both can bring whatever we need to bring to the table.”
Parker, who also plays baseball, has handled backup quarterback duties for the Wildcats. He's played primarily junior varsity and mopup duties. He said he's been learning from the starters.
“I've always been behind great people to look up to,” Parker said. “Eli Shepherd my sophomore year - I looked up to him. Sharmon Rester last year - I have to say I've never had anybody really that I look up to and I wanted to be everything they'd been. Sharmon put up great numbers last year. He was a great leader and I respected him. My goal is to do everything he did last year.”
Parker's career got off to an explosive start. In his first varsity game, a benefit game against North Little Rock as a sophomore, he was rudely welcomed to senior high football.
“I had the jitters, I'm not gonna lie. Those were some big boys compared to me,” he said. “I've always been the smaller one on the field. I've never let that get to me but I'll never forget, I scrambled out for a pass play. This kid was humongous. I've never seen somebody his size. He absolutely decked me. I went down and I woke up and (trainer) Morgan (Atkins) was standing over me. I was like, ‘Well, how did I get here?' After that, once you get that first hit on varsity, you're just there. You're used to it. That's how I was. Once I got a taste for it, I wanted more. I wanted to be on the field. I wanted to do what I could.”
The jitters may have been gone but the adversity remained with Parker, who would suffer a season-ending injury in the Wildcats' playoff game.
“It was a high snap. I turned around to give it to D and he was gone. He was nowhere to be seen,” Parker recalled. “I was like, I've got to do something. I can't just sit here. I rolled and I see this big linebacker coming at me. He got up under me and gator rolled me. I got back up and I was like, ‘I can't feel my big toe.' I took three steps and I dropped. Morgan took my cleat off and she was like, ‘Yeah, it's broken.' I was like, ‘that's great.'”
At least Parker can say he's gotten that first big senior varsity hit out of the way. Elia hasn't played a down on Friday night. It's different.
Both players insist they're happy to do whatever is best for the Wildcats.
“He mentioned it toward the end of the school year that he was thinking about coming back for his senior year,” said Parker. “I was in baseball. The day before we went to state, JB told me he was going to come back. I had joy with it. I was very excited he was coming back because I missed my friend here with me. We've had good times playing football from seventh grade. I was excited he was coming back.”
Despite the competition, their excitement for each other has remained consistent. But, they both want to play.
For Parker, who has returned from injuries and waited his turn, the competition is real and it's important.
“It'll have its times when it'll get heated. By heated I mean, there might be a day, a practice or two where we don't speak much to each other,” he said. “But, I mean, other than that it's a competition. We're out there battling but we also give each other pointers. If he had something he didn't see, I'd let him know. If I had something I messed up on or didn't see, he'd let me know. We're battling it out but in the end, we always have each other's back. Whoever is out there, we want them to get the job done so we can go back to state.”
Parker and Elia lead a quarterback room that includes Jameson Dumas, Kerry Shelton and Cooper Henry.
"We've got five great guys competing hard," said quarterbacks' coach Matthew Nash. "They are setting a good tone for the team."