HIS FIRE IS STOKED
Exeter and QB Gavin McCusker have sights set on 10th straight district appearance
Gavin McCusker quarterbacked Exeter to its deepest run ever in the District 3 playoffs a year ago and set a gang of passing records in the process.
All he heard in the offseason, it seems, was about the top-shelf players the Eagles graduated – 13 all-league picks, in all – and how his senior season wouldn’t nearly stack up in comparison.
Safe to say hearing those comments stoked some inner fires.
“I pride myself on building off of last year,” said McCusker. “I put a lot of work in this winter. I want to prove that last year wasn’t a fluke. We’re Exeter football. Each year is a stellar year for us.”
Indeed, the Eagles lost a lot – the Berks Football League’s Receiver and Defensive Back of the Year, an All-State kicker and all but a couple starters from a defense that helped carry them to the District 3 Class 5A semifinals. There’s plenty left, though. There’s McCusker, who passed for a Berks-leading 2,035 yards to go with 24 touchdowns.
There’s 6-3, 209-pound tight end/linebacker J.R. Strauss, a junior who spent the winter collecting Division I offers.
There’s 6-1, 207-pound fullback/linebacker Ty Yocum, another rock-solid junior with big college upside.
There are yet more good receivers and backs and linemen in an Exeter program that’s been as consistent as any around in churning them out over the past decade. The Eagles made their ninth straight district appearance a year ago.
They’ve got their sights set on another, should we get that far in this COVID-delayed season.
“We’ve got all the pieces that we need,” Yocum assured.
“If anything, we’ll build off last year,” McCusker said. “That’s what really motivated me (in the offseason). We had a really good run, and people said we lost so many (good) people. I don’t think that plays a part in this year. The sky’s the limit for us.”
Football coaches dream of bringing back an experienced senior quarterback to lead their team, and Matt Bauer couldn’t be any more pleased than to have McCusker’s hands firmly on the wheel.
“He has all the intangibles you need,” said the Eagles coach, running down a checklist. “His leadership skills are off the charts... he’s very unselfish, very mature... he’s a true passer, very accurate... a good decision-maker.
“He’s taken the ownership role of this team, he’s holding kids accountable, and the kids are really responding. They rally around him. He’s just a leader, a born leader.”
McCusker’s development has been aided over the years by Kyle and Chase Yocum, Exeter quarterbacks who preceded him and whose passing records he went about topping a year ago.
The 6-3, 169-pound McCusker completed a program-record 18 passes in his first start, against Berks Catholic, and rarely missed a beat thereafter.
His 24-to-7 touchdowns-to-interceptions ratio and 161.3 passer efficiency rating were among the best in program history. With a full 10-game season at his disposal this season, he would have had a clear shot at the Eagles’ career passing record of 3,775 yards.
Not that records matter all that much to him.
“During the season, I wasn’t looking into that,” he said. “I was trying to make sure I put my best foot forward to make sure we won games. After the season it was cool looking back and seeing that. But I’m more worried about winning games than personal records.”
McCusker, who already has an offer from Morehead State and could get others from Football Championship Subdivision programs, won’t be the only reason the Eagles win games this season.
Strauss and Yocum are such standouts, such physical forces, they’re likely to alter the Eagles’ offensive style.
Bauer, in recent years, has relied mostly on a one-back set; Yocum and Strauss are such powerhouses they may force him to change.
“When you have guys like Ty and J.R. … you have to tailor your offense around (them),” Bauer admitted without revealing too many details on the X’s and O’s.
A power running game will only help open things for McCusker and receivers such as Gio Nowotarski, a 6-3 senior, and 6-7 sophomore Joey Schlaffer, the half-brother of former Exeter standouts Christian and Michal Menet.
“This junior class has seen a lot of time,” said Bauer. “They played in district playoff games. We definitely have some key players returning in key positions. Our skill level’s really strong. We have a couple spots to fill on the line, but we can shore that up.”
The Eagles’ offseason workouts were interrupted twice since July 1 because of coronavirus shutdowns; it cost them about five weeks.
“The on and off in the summer was kind of rough for us,” McCusker said a couple days into heat acclimatization week. “We’re still trying to get back. Every team has gone through some ups and downs, so I don’t think it should affect us.”