TWIN CITY — The Portal Panthers have high hopes for freshman quarterback Hunter Oglesby as he matures. Tuesday evening in a seven-on-seven scrimmage at Emanuel County Institute, he got in more reps than anyone expected.
With projected starter senior Steven Cox sidelined with a possible torn groin muscle, Oglesby took all the snaps against the defending state champs. Justin Chester and the rest of the Panther coaching staff were pleasantly surprised.
“What better time to have (Cox) rest and get ready,” said Chester. “We want Steven to play football, basketball and track, like he always has, so we’ve got to take care of that (injury).
“Oglesby came in as a freshman. Certainly going up against a tough defense like ECI, he was nervous. He started making better decisions throughout the scrimmage. (He has) a lot of potential.”
If Oglesby was nervous going up against the tough Bulldog secondary, he didn’t show it. He checked down his options and spread the ball around. The most notable play of the evening was when he found Casey Ware in the end zone on a 30 yard pass between two ECI defenders.
“Casey Ware is going to be a playmaker for us,” said Chester. “We’re going to try to really get him the football, because he’s got great hands. He also did a fine job playing corner for us today. With Cox injured, we also looked at him at safety.”
Another athlete that has a chance to impact the Portal offense is junior Michael Reese. Reese used his basketball frame to match up with the ECI defense and was a favorite target for Oglesby throughout the scrimmage.
Chester has been pleased with what he has seen out of his Panthers throughout summer workouts. After a change to the spread during the 2007 campaign, playmakers have started to emerge to fill in the gaps at the skill positions.
“Come July,” Chester said, “we expect to have our 20 skill players out for the rest of our (workouts). We’re just gonna try to improve drastically through the month of July, but we’re really leaps and bounds from where we were at this point in time last year.
“Our bread and butter’s still going to be to run the football,” said Chester. “We’ve got Chase Sheffield and Joseph Ware that can run the football. Both of those guys have great speed, and they’re hard to tackle. Certainly when Steven gets healthy, he’s a running quarterback as well.”
As for Emanuel County, it has no intention of taking the ball out of the hands of its running backs. The Bulldogs won the state championship primarily on the ground, and with record-shattering running back Washaun Ealey, bruising lineman J.C. Lanier and quarterback Michael Robertson still in the mix, ECI has its sights set on a second-straight title.
Still, it doesn’t hurt to air it out over the summer.
“It’s good,” said Emanuel coach Milan Turner. “It gives us an opportunity to work on our passing game, and it’s even better for our defense, secondary-wise, just getting lined up and doing those sorts of things. Plus, the kids are going full speed, flying around and running, so they’re getting into shape and having fun doing it.”
Also, with Class A defenses keying in on Ealey and the running game, the luxury of an air attack can’t hurt.
“We want to be able to throw the ball,” Turner said. “We want to be able to throw it when we want to, not just when we have to. We’ve got a very capable quarterback coming back from last year. We’ve got some guys with very good hands who can catch the football. There’s some instances where folks are going to load up against the run, and we need to be able to take advantage of that and throw the ball to get them off of us some. We’re working hard to make sure we can do that.”
Matt Yogus can be reached at (912) 541-3511.
With projected starter senior Steven Cox sidelined with a possible torn groin muscle, Oglesby took all the snaps against the defending state champs. Justin Chester and the rest of the Panther coaching staff were pleasantly surprised.
“What better time to have (Cox) rest and get ready,” said Chester. “We want Steven to play football, basketball and track, like he always has, so we’ve got to take care of that (injury).
“Oglesby came in as a freshman. Certainly going up against a tough defense like ECI, he was nervous. He started making better decisions throughout the scrimmage. (He has) a lot of potential.”
If Oglesby was nervous going up against the tough Bulldog secondary, he didn’t show it. He checked down his options and spread the ball around. The most notable play of the evening was when he found Casey Ware in the end zone on a 30 yard pass between two ECI defenders.
“Casey Ware is going to be a playmaker for us,” said Chester. “We’re going to try to really get him the football, because he’s got great hands. He also did a fine job playing corner for us today. With Cox injured, we also looked at him at safety.”
Another athlete that has a chance to impact the Portal offense is junior Michael Reese. Reese used his basketball frame to match up with the ECI defense and was a favorite target for Oglesby throughout the scrimmage.
Chester has been pleased with what he has seen out of his Panthers throughout summer workouts. After a change to the spread during the 2007 campaign, playmakers have started to emerge to fill in the gaps at the skill positions.
“Come July,” Chester said, “we expect to have our 20 skill players out for the rest of our (workouts). We’re just gonna try to improve drastically through the month of July, but we’re really leaps and bounds from where we were at this point in time last year.
“Our bread and butter’s still going to be to run the football,” said Chester. “We’ve got Chase Sheffield and Joseph Ware that can run the football. Both of those guys have great speed, and they’re hard to tackle. Certainly when Steven gets healthy, he’s a running quarterback as well.”
As for Emanuel County, it has no intention of taking the ball out of the hands of its running backs. The Bulldogs won the state championship primarily on the ground, and with record-shattering running back Washaun Ealey, bruising lineman J.C. Lanier and quarterback Michael Robertson still in the mix, ECI has its sights set on a second-straight title.
Still, it doesn’t hurt to air it out over the summer.
“It’s good,” said Emanuel coach Milan Turner. “It gives us an opportunity to work on our passing game, and it’s even better for our defense, secondary-wise, just getting lined up and doing those sorts of things. Plus, the kids are going full speed, flying around and running, so they’re getting into shape and having fun doing it.”
Also, with Class A defenses keying in on Ealey and the running game, the luxury of an air attack can’t hurt.
“We want to be able to throw the ball,” Turner said. “We want to be able to throw it when we want to, not just when we have to. We’ve got a very capable quarterback coming back from last year. We’ve got some guys with very good hands who can catch the football. There’s some instances where folks are going to load up against the run, and we need to be able to take advantage of that and throw the ball to get them off of us some. We’re working hard to make sure we can do that.”
Matt Yogus can be reached at (912) 541-3511.
