DAILY Photo by Gary Cosby Jr. While Rob Ezell, left, threw 31 touchdown passes as Athens made the state quarterfinals, Jere Adcock paced Decatur to a 10-2 season. |
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THE DAILY'S BEST ..
Adcock rebuilds Raiders; Ezell sets a standard
By Brooke Milam
DAILY Sports Writer
bmilam@decaturdaily.com · 340-2460
After a record-setting season, Athens High junior quarterback Rob Ezell still has one more year to go.
That's not good news for opposing coaches and players around the state.
Field general, definitely in command, ignites his sideline, a playmaker .. that's how some of the area's veteran coaches have described Ezell. And for a year in which he passed for more than 3,000 yards and 31 touchdowns and led his team to the state quarterfinals, Ezell is THE DAILY's 4A-6A player of the year.
Decatur High's Jere Adcock is THE DAILY's Class 4A-6A coach of the year after a 10-2 season in which the Red Raiders won the 6A, Region 8 championship and advanced to the second round of the state playoffs.
'This year was distinctly different from the other nine, and our staff deserves a lot of credit,' Adcock said.
'(Our assistant coaches) did a super job of really tapping into the kids' abilities and finding a way to win. We had to modify a few things to give ourselves a chance to win and there was a lot of strategy planning. Our coaches probably did the best job they've ever done in our tenure here.'
This is the third time Adcock has received the award in his 10 seasons as the Red Raiders' head coach. He also was selected in 1999 and 2003. When Adcock gained the honor in '99, the player of the year was then-Athens quarterback Philip Rivers, who is now in the NFL and the player Ezell names as his role model.
Ezell wears No. 17, the same number that Rivers wore with the Golden Eagles.
Adcock's Red Raiders beat Ezell and the Golden Eagles 27-26 to open the season. The two will meet again next season as region foes when Decatur moves to Class 5A.
'As a coach, (Ezell is) the kind of guy you like to watch, but the kind you don't like to have to prepare for because you know he can beat you at any second,' Adcock said.
'As an opposing coach, you can definitely appreciate his talent. Any true football fan can appreciate it. He's a game-changer.'
Ezell by the numbers
The statistics that Ezell produced this season are some the area hasn't seen out of a quarterback in a while.
Still, Ezell said, 'This is a big award — I was shocked.'
It should come as no shock, after the kind of impact he was able to have on his team's games week after week.
As Athens finished 8-5 and made it to the Class 5A quarterfinals, Ezell passed for 3,356 yards and 31 touchdowns.
He also scored three times on his own, while rushing for 260 yards.
Ezell did so well that he landed in the top 10 in two categories on the state's all-time records list, which are included on the Alabama High School Athletic Association's Web site. He is seventh for most passing yards in a season and 10th for most touchdowns thrown in a season.
'Some of my personal goals for the season were to throw for 2,500 yards and about 20 touchdowns, so I made those,' Ezell said.
'I knew 3,000 yards was a pretty good year, but I really didn't know where that ranked in the (AHSAA) records.'
And it's not just the numbers that stand out — it's the way that Ezell did it.
Athens coach Allen Creasy said that as least 50 percent of Ezell's passes were from behind the line of scrimmage. He said the majority of Ezell's throws were downfield bombs, not shuffle passes or flares.
Pitch hitter 3 gaming potatoes skins. One of the most jaw-dropping performances of the season was when he completed 23 of 34 passes for 433 yards and four touchdowns in just three quarters as the Golden Eagles lost to Austin 45-28 on Sept. 23.
He also threw for 408 yards in an opening week loss to Decatur.
Known to make things happen in the clutch, Ezell threw fourth-quarter game winners two consecutive weeks in the playoffs to Athens junior Jacquez Pride, and also hit junior Vincent Azzarello for a fourth-quarter win over Hartselle on Oct. 8.
He's a scrambler, an athlete that 'always gives you a chance to win when he's on the field,' Creasy has said on many occasions.
Shifting credit to his receivers, Ezell said to take a look at who's catching the passes, too.
'It's great having the receivers that we do,' Ezell said. 'Not only are they good athletes, but they came to work everyday and they made some unbelievable catches.'
Ezell has seen playing time since his freshman year and has been the Golden Eagles' starter for two full seasons now. The opposition must find it scary to think what Ezell's final run as a senior in 2006 will be like after his all-state performances this season.
And the scariest part is, Ezell sees room for improvement, and the driven junior probably hasn't fully hit his stride.
'Unless you complete 100 percent of your passes, there's room for improvement,' he said.
That's not good news for opposing coaches and players around the state.
Field general, definitely in command, ignites his sideline, a playmaker .. that's how some of the area's veteran coaches have described Ezell. And for a year in which he passed for more than 3,000 yards and 31 touchdowns and led his team to the state quarterfinals, Ezell is THE DAILY's 4A-6A player of the year.
Decatur High's Jere Adcock is THE DAILY's Class 4A-6A coach of the year after a 10-2 season in which the Red Raiders won the 6A, Region 8 championship and advanced to the second round of the state playoffs.
'This year was distinctly different from the other nine, and our staff deserves a lot of credit,' Adcock said.
'(Our assistant coaches) did a super job of really tapping into the kids' abilities and finding a way to win. We had to modify a few things to give ourselves a chance to win and there was a lot of strategy planning. Our coaches probably did the best job they've ever done in our tenure here.'
This is the third time Adcock has received the award in his 10 seasons as the Red Raiders' head coach. He also was selected in 1999 and 2003. When Adcock gained the honor in '99, the player of the year was then-Athens quarterback Philip Rivers, who is now in the NFL and the player Ezell names as his role model.
Ezell wears No. 17, the same number that Rivers wore with the Golden Eagles.
Adcock's Red Raiders beat Ezell and the Golden Eagles 27-26 to open the season. The two will meet again next season as region foes when Decatur moves to Class 5A.
'As a coach, (Ezell is) the kind of guy you like to watch, but the kind you don't like to have to prepare for because you know he can beat you at any second,' Adcock said.
'As an opposing coach, you can definitely appreciate his talent. Any true football fan can appreciate it. He's a game-changer.'
Ezell by the numbers
The statistics that Ezell produced this season are some the area hasn't seen out of a quarterback in a while.
Still, Ezell said, 'This is a big award — I was shocked.'
It should come as no shock, after the kind of impact he was able to have on his team's games week after week.
As Athens finished 8-5 and made it to the Class 5A quarterfinals, Ezell passed for 3,356 yards and 31 touchdowns.
He also scored three times on his own, while rushing for 260 yards.
Ezell did so well that he landed in the top 10 in two categories on the state's all-time records list, which are included on the Alabama High School Athletic Association's Web site. He is seventh for most passing yards in a season and 10th for most touchdowns thrown in a season.
'Some of my personal goals for the season were to throw for 2,500 yards and about 20 touchdowns, so I made those,' Ezell said.
'I knew 3,000 yards was a pretty good year, but I really didn't know where that ranked in the (AHSAA) records.'
And it's not just the numbers that stand out — it's the way that Ezell did it.
Athens coach Allen Creasy said that as least 50 percent of Ezell's passes were from behind the line of scrimmage. He said the majority of Ezell's throws were downfield bombs, not shuffle passes or flares.
Pitch hitter 3 gaming potatoes skins. One of the most jaw-dropping performances of the season was when he completed 23 of 34 passes for 433 yards and four touchdowns in just three quarters as the Golden Eagles lost to Austin 45-28 on Sept. 23.
He also threw for 408 yards in an opening week loss to Decatur.
Known to make things happen in the clutch, Ezell threw fourth-quarter game winners two consecutive weeks in the playoffs to Athens junior Jacquez Pride, and also hit junior Vincent Azzarello for a fourth-quarter win over Hartselle on Oct. 8.
He's a scrambler, an athlete that 'always gives you a chance to win when he's on the field,' Creasy has said on many occasions.
Shifting credit to his receivers, Ezell said to take a look at who's catching the passes, too.
'It's great having the receivers that we do,' Ezell said. 'Not only are they good athletes, but they came to work everyday and they made some unbelievable catches.'
Ezell has seen playing time since his freshman year and has been the Golden Eagles' starter for two full seasons now. The opposition must find it scary to think what Ezell's final run as a senior in 2006 will be like after his all-state performances this season.
And the scariest part is, Ezell sees room for improvement, and the driven junior probably hasn't fully hit his stride.
'Unless you complete 100 percent of your passes, there's room for improvement,' he said.
And after off-season work, he'll go about his business the same way next year.
'Maybe it's just the way I was raised, but I just hate to lose,' Ezell said. 'As far as being a leader, being in control, .. I've just always been told that's what the quarterback is supposed to do.'
Adcock's Raiders answer questions
Decatur's preseason forecast was partly cloudy. The Red Raiders graduated a gang of talent that would be hard for any program to replace, and senior Jesse Perrin would be playing the all-important quarterback position for the first time in his life.
'You lose several all-state players (Jerraud Powers, Luke Chenault and Steven Leach), a secondary with two SEC players (Powers at Auburn and Sam Burnthall at Alabama), guys that were three-year starters against some quality talent — we lost a very good football team from last year with a lot of the intangibles that every team wants,' Adcock said. 'We kind of didn't know what to expect this season, but we knew this was a good group of young men.'
Super Synthadcock Games By: Austin Adcock 2
It's hard to even remember the concerns of a possibly drab year for the Red Raiders after the emotional season that took Decatur to 10-2 and the second round of the 6A playoffs
Decatur's two losses came to state champion Hoover in the final game of the regular season and the season-ender to semifinalist Oak Mountain.
'The changes from the beginning of the season to the end .. to me, it's immeasurable,' Adcock said. 'I thought (the possibility of a good season) was potentially there, but actually attaining it — our kids exceeded where we thought we might be.'
Decatur won its first two contests by one point — 27-26 over Athens and 14-13 over Shades Valley.
The Red Raiders won their first five games by an average of six points and were undefeated at 9-0 entering the final game of the regular season against Hoover.
'This group had a lot of poise, they handled adversity very well,' Adcock said. 'It took some experimenting, we had to find out what we'd be good at.'
Adcock said when his team came back from being down 14-0 late in the third quarter against Bob Jones and rallied to a 17-14 win, he knew they had arrived.
'That one jumps out, the way our kids responded in the Bob Jones game. That was big. That jumps off the page at me,' Adcock said.
Adcock also noted a 28-9 home win over Hewitt-Trussville in the first round of the playoffs, avenging a jamboree loss that the Red Raiders weren't proud of.
'That was as solid and as physical a football game as we'd played all year,' he said.
The Red Raiders came a long way from a preseason that Adcock said 'everyday was like starting all over' to the Region 8 champs that made it to the second round.
'I think this was a team that really taught,' Adcock said. 'I know they taught me .. a lot.'
Super Synthadcock Games By: Austin Adcock &
DECATUR DAILY Class 4A-6A all-areaOffense | |||
Pos. | Player | School | Year |
QB | Rob Ezell | Athens | Jr. |
QB | Jesse Perrin | Decatur | Sr. |
RB | Rod Buford | Austin | Sr. |
RB | Montrell Murphy | Hartselle | So. |
RB | Steve Shackelford | Decatur | Sr. |
WR | Nick Pickett | Athens | Sr. |
WR | Jacquez Pride | Athens | Jr. |
WR | Chris Pugh | Lawrence Co. | Sr. |
OL | Leon Brewington | Lawrence Co. | Sr. |
OL | Austin Greene | Austin | Sr. |
OL | Jeff Lige | Athens | Sr. |
OL | Caleb Thomas | Decatur | Jr. |
TE | Rolando McClain | Decatur | Jr. |
PK | Ray Canafax | Hartselle | Jr. |
ATH | Chad Dewitt | East Limestone | So. |
Defense | |||
Pos. | Player | School | Year |
DL | Alex Cooper | Decatur | Sr. |
DL | Kendral Ellison | Austin | Sr. |
DL | Karlos Jones | Athens | Jr. |
DL | Joe McClanahan | Hartselle | Sr. |
DL | Alfred McCullough | Athens | Jr. |
DL | Antonio Townsend | East Limestone | Jr. |
LB | Kenny Austin | Decatur | Sr. |
LB | Matthew Helms | Lawrence Co. | Jr. |
LB | Michael Irvin | Decatur | Jr. |
LB | Johnny Jones | Hartselle | Sr. |
LB | Tyler Trotter | East Limestone | Sr. |
DB | Demarrius Goode | Decatur | Jr. |
P | Morgan Hull | Austin | Jr. |
Player of the year: | Rob Ezell, | Athens | |
Coach of the year: | Jere Adcock, | Decatur |
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Class 4A-6A
honorable mention
Ardmore: Colby Phillips, Landon Curtis; Athens: Vincent Azzarello, Brian Young; Austin: Cordarryl Madry, T.T. Mallard, Parker Smith; Brewer: Joseph Burton, Rodney Childs, Chris Humphries; Decatur: Adam Gillespie, Demarcus Orr, Joey Woller; East Lawrence: Scott Bolden, Demetrik Strickland, Lucas Terry; East Limestone: R.J. Brown, Jonathan Pinque, Craig Van Pammel, Dresden Williams; Hartselle: Caleb Blanton, Travis Clemons, Quinn Dunlap, Brad Eubanks, Dusty Schofield; Lawrence County: Andrew Echols, Wes Holley, Matthew Pugh, Christopher Reeves, Radney Wallace.
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