Quincy Mitchell has worked hard to become a varsity starter. How much he’ll help Emporia High’s defense this year will come down to a nature-nurture faceoff — Mitchell’s nature vs. his coaches’ nurture.
By nature, Mitchell isn’t an aggressive player — he’s not the kind of bloodthirsty hitter you might expect to see at the safety position, a guy just waiting to charge up and deliver a blackout-inducing shot on an opposing ballcarrier. But the free safety earns high marks for his coachability, and the Spartan coaches are hoping they can coax him into developing a little more of a mauler’s mindset.
“Like Coach (Bill Lowe) said, he’s very coachable,” EHS co-defensive coordinator P.J. Marstall said, “and sometimes, getting kids to accelerate into that hitting phase of the game takes awhile. There are natural-born hitters, believe it or not, that don’t mind being aggressive, and there’s kids that understand the game, very coachable, but bringing that part of the game out of them takes awhile.”
Mitchell started one game last year: the season-opening win over Topeka High, when he filled in for an injured Mark Kolmer. He played sparingly on defense after that, also getting some time on special teams. This year, the Spartans’ defensive scheme features two safeties instead of one, and Mitchell is starting along with fellow senior Kolmer.
“I’ve just learned a lot, playing on the scout team and against them,” Mitchell said. “And I’ve improved, been working in the weight room a lot, just doing my job, what I have to do to help the team out.”
Marstall said Mitchell played a solid game in last week’s 40-21 season-opening win at Topeka High. But that physicality the coaches are trying to foster in him will carry more import in this week’s home opener against Hayden. Topeka’s shotgun-based, no-huddle offense tries to wear the opposing defense down more with breakneck pace than with physical pounding and attrition. Playing Hayden, Marstall knows, will be a “total opposite game” — the Wildcats will look to pound the ball down the Spartans’ throats.
“He has a great attitude, and he’s a great kid,” Lowe said. “We just need him to focus and play a little harder, be a little more physical.”
If Mitchell can make strides in that area, Marstall believes he could become a consistent player the Spartans can count on at the back of their defense — a safety who might give up a 12- or 15-yard play, but not a backbreaking 80-yard play.
“I think Quincy’s a kid that you’d love to have in your program,” Marstall said. “Because he’s worked as a sophomore, he worked hard as a junior, got one start, then didn’t see a lot of playing time. Now it’s your senior year... too many kids think they deserve stuff, and he’s not one. He’s worked hard, done what we’ve asked.”
About Hayden
The Wildcats, replacing a huge chunk of their Class 4A State title team from last season, defeated visiting Shawnee Heights 19-7 in their opener last week.
Junior running back Alex Steuber ran for 113 yards in 24 carries, and Hayden finished with 234 yards on the ground — interestingly, the same number Spartan fullback Mark Kolmer rang up by himself in 31 carries last week against Topeka High. Senior John Banister is also a running threat out of the backfield; Banister had 57 yards in seven carries last week. Junior quarterback Sean Morrow threw just five passes against Heights and completed two, but one was a 36-yard TD to Adam Smith.
“It’s gonna be, can we line up and go blow to blow?” Marstall said. “It’s gonna be a physical game. Could be a short game, because both of us want to run the ball, and the clock will tick fast. So in that phase of the game, every snap is important.”