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Caroline's Hagan Driskell leads the Battlefield District with 503 passing yards and six touchdowns through four games this season.
Caroline quarterback Hagan Driskell (right) has evolved into the Cavaliers' most important offensive player. |
Nothing about Hagan Driskell's young football career has been conventional.
The Caroline High School senior quarterback had to be coerced by his father, Bobby Driskell, to go out for the middle school team when he was in seventh-grade.
He was promptly cut.
Driskell then played tight end for a Caroline Parks & Recreation team. The squad's quarterback went on a family vacation, so it needed an emergency signal-caller.
Driskell volunteered, and the coach asked him to deliver a pass during an impromptu audition.
Driskell fired a strike into the coach's chest, and from that point on, he never relinquished the starting spot.
"It knocked the wind out of him," said Bobby Driskell, an Alabama native. "He said, 'I think we've got a quarterback.'"
The Cavaliers have a quarterback now too.
The 6-foot-2, 211-pound Driskell has led Caroline (3-1, 1-0, Battlefield District) to its best start in six years as it prepares to visit James Monroe (3-1, 1-0) tonight at 7:30 p.m. in a key midseason Battlefield clash at Maury stadium.
Driskell has completed 57 percent of his passes and thrown for a district-best 503 yards and six touchdowns so far this year. He completed seven passes in a row to start last week's game against Riverbend en route to a 40-24 home victory.
Driskell certainly has the attention of James Monroe coach Rich Serbay.
"He's a very smart, accurate quarterback," Serbay said. "And he's got two very good high school receivers to throw to. We're going to have our hands full."
Even Driskell's ascension into the starting position for the Cavaliers didn't go smoothly. When coach Robert Jenkins took over the program three years ago, he said Driskell was his "third or fourth" choice to be the quarterback of the future.
Jenkins said Driskell was too unsure of himself in the pocket. Also, athleticism wasn't Driskell's strong point.
"His arm strength was there, but he was physically weak," Jenkins said. "And his feet weren't great. He just basically had a strong arm."
Driskell was a standout catcher on the Cavaliers' junior varsity baseball team as a sophomore, but he gave up the sport to concentrate on becoming a better quarterback.
He also hit the weight room, and soaked in all the tutoring possible from Jenkins' son and Caroline offensive coordinator Robbie Jenkins.
The younger Jenkins was a standout quarterback at Culpeper, Bridgewater and in the American Indoor Football League.
Driskell attended many of Robbie's games with the AIFL's Richmond Bandits last season. He and Driskell are more like friends, and they often have throwing contests during practice.
"[Robbie] has helped him tremendously," Bobby Driskell said. "There's no way to say how much he's helped him. They have a really tight bond."
Said Hagan: "We've spent countless hours going over plays. We've had to put in a lot of work."
As a sophomore, Driskell led the Cavaliers junior varsity team to a district championship. Last season, he split time with the now graduated Craig Lilly, as Caroline went 5-5.
Driskell began seeing most of his playing time midway through last season. He finished the year with 625 yards and four touchdowns. His breakout game came against James Monroe when he threw for 197 yards and three touchdowns in 29-28 overtime loss.He said that narrow defeat serves as motivation for tonight.
"JM is our rival, and we came so close last year," he said. "We know they're a heck of a team every year, and we want to give them our best shot."
Robbie Jenkins said the coaching staff wanted to work Driskell in slowly, so that his confidence wasn't compromised.
Driskell waited patiently behind Lilly, who started the season. Robbie Jenkins said Driskell is now the team's most important player.
"We didn't want to put him in a position where he would get banged around," Robbie said. "I think we brought him out at the right time, midway through last year."
Since then, Driskell has thrived. He's hooked up with standout receivers Quinton Latney and Kadeem Montgomery 23 times for 403 yards this season.
He's also earned the respect of his teammates with his newfound poise in the pocket.
"He never gets rattled," Caroline senior offensive lineman Larry Jones said.Said fullback Marcos Castillo: "He can wing it out there, and he can make the short accurate throws. He does it all for us."
Robert Jenkins said Driskell "has no idea how good he can be."
He's glad he stuck with the quarterback, but he said Driskell's transformation still isn't complete.
"I wouldn't say it's been like night and day," Robert Jenkins said. "It's been like day and evening. He can still go a long way."
To reach TAFT COGHILL JR.:
Email: tcoghill@freelancestar.com
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Following are the top five teams in The Free Lance-Star's weekly high school football power poll: 1. Louisa (5-0) 43 2. Orange (4-0) 28 3. Liberty (4-0) 19 4. Courtland (3-1) 18 5. Stafford (4-1) 17 Others receiving votes: Caroline, Essex. TONIGHT'S GAMES Dominion at King George Caroline at James Monroe Chancellor at Spotsylvania Cosby at Colonial Beach Courtland at Riverbend James Wood at Liberty Massaponax at Colonial Forge Mountain View at Stafford Nandua at Essex North Stafford at Brooke Point Orange at Western Albemarle All games at 7:30 unless noted. |
