Five years ago, Hays High School coach Ryan Cornelsen took over the Indian program. That season, the Indians had a big question mark at quarterback and eventually moved the athletic Bryant Bombardier, a former wideout and a state medalist in the high jump, under center. Bombardier game-managed a run-heavy offense effectively and led HHS to a 7-2 season.
However, after Hays High's first practice in 2008, Cornelsen and an observer walked from the practice field to the Indian locker room. A youth team had started practice on an adjacent field.
On one play, the quarterback executed a perfect rollout and threw a laser down the right side. Both the observer and Cornelsen were impressed; Cornelsen said the player was his future quarterback.
The QB was Alex Delton.
In Garden City, Greyson Tempel has played quarterback throughout his career, including in YMCA and middle school. Tempel was usually the best athlete on the field. Current GCHS head coach Brian Hill remembered watching Tempel as a middle schooler.
"When things broke down and the offensive line didn't block very well, he was able to escape and just outrun everybody on the field," Hill said. "It looked like they were doing a great job, but it was really just him being that much better athletically."
In Liberal, Cliff Abbott, currently the Redskins’ high school coach, coached a little league team more than a decade ago. His son, Britton, would attend practice, but wasn’t old enough to be on a team. Instead, he watched his three older brothers and sneak into drills against players four to six years older. Coach Abbott was concerned his young son would get hurt, but Britton held his own.
“Watching him, I went home and told his mother, ‘He was very gifted,’” Coach Abbott said. “He has a desire for that, so he is going to be the one that is going to have a lot of opportunities.”
Years later, the talented youngsters are among Kansas’ best quarterbacks and lead the Western Athletic Conference to some big offensive numbers. In addition, Dodge City’s Kelan Newton put up a great 2012 in his first year as a starter. Great Bend’s Bryce Beck is also a returning starter for the QB-heavy conference.
Delton is already listed among the Top 250 players in the junior class by Rivals.com, Abbott and speedy wideout Trenton Hammond spent time at Kansas State, Oklahoma State and Tulsa summer camps and the 6-foot-5 Newton will likely have collegiate opportunities.
Hill, in his fourth year, said it reminds him of the talent in his first season. Greg Hildebrand put up big numbers for Great Bend, Cody Bernbeck had a nice year for Garden City and Jared Helfrich collected player of the year honors at Dodge City.
Plus, four of the five teams have run the spread offense for several years, and Hays High has gone more to a spread look in the last two seasons.
"There is a lot of athletes in this conference," Hill said. "Just trying to line up and run over the top of one another all season long, I think we all understand that would be extremely difficult."
On Friday, the quarterbacks all delivered strong showings, especially Abbott, who led Kansas in total offense and rushing offense among quarterbacks last season.
Abbott helped Liberal score 22 unanswered points in the fourth quarter and defeated Ulysses 56-41. He rushed 33 times for 153 yards and three TDs, and completed 34 of 48 passes for 425 yards and four scores against one interception.
Hammond, arguably the state’s fastest player, hauled in 11 catches for 183 yards and four TDs. Hammond and Abbott have played together for six years – all under Coach Abbott.
Hays High’s Delton injured his groin in the first quarter of the Indians’ 27-22 win against Junction City. Delton was very limited, but still completed 7 of 17 passes for 73 yards and had 13 carries for 22 yards with two TDs and one interception.
“He is a tremendous athlete,” Coach Abbott said. “Very quick, very explosive, which gives me more of a dimension than just throwing. I would much rather play against a quarterback that is a very good thrower or a very good runner, but when you have a combination to do both, to bring it down and become that runner, then that’s something very difficult. … You really need 12 men, 13 men on the field.”
Dodge City defeated Wichita Southeast 44-6, Great Bend beat Hoisington 35-7 and Garden City lost to Bixby (Okla.) 32-27. Tempel had four rushing TDs, including scores from 71 and 53 yards, but again had some issues with turnovers.
Last year, Hays High won the conference for the third time in four seasons, finished 7-3 and averaged 36.7 points per contest. Garden City was 5-4, and despite a minus-9 turnover margin, averaged 25.1 points per game.
Dodge City was 5-6 and collected 31.3 points a contest, Great Bend was 5-4 at 24.3 points per game and Liberal, despite a 2-7 mark, averaged 34.7 points every Friday.
Delton has received the most publicity. He kept an active Twitter feed of all the places he attended this summer.
Delton, a junior, attended a Rivals camp in Texas and was named the No. 2 quarterback in the Class of 2015. Kansas State has already offered Delton and many more are expected.
Last season, he passed for 1,310 yards, rushed for 698 yards and combined for 28 scores. Delton has run 4.52 seconds in the 40-yard dash and posted a 31-inch vertical, according to Rivals.
"Other than his athleticism also, he is a very accurate passer," Hill said. "Which makes them extremely dangerous."
Rivals national writer Mike Farrell said Delton “showed a live arm.”
He has also received interest from multiple other schools, including Kansas, West Virginia and TCU.
"Delton grabbed attention by putting tremendous zip on the ball during drills and carried the momentum into one-on-one drills, where he completed a number of difficult deep passes and routinely crammed the ball through tiny windows," Rivals wrote of Delton. "Delton has a bit of an odd throwing motion, but his arm strength and speed make him unbelievably dangerous.”
In 2012, Newton completed 191 of 325 passes for 2,474 yards and a 20/6 TD/INT ratio, while Beck passed for 223 yards and rushed for 353 yards. Abbott completed 176 of 326 passes for 2,333 yards with a 19/10 TD/INT ratio and also rushed for 909 yards and 15 TDs.
"He runs so well and he is such a big and strong runner," Hill said of Abbott. "He is probably a little bit different than all of the other kids in the WAC. The more he runs it, he is kind of like an old-school I-formation tailback, he can kind of wear you down physically by continually running it."
Hammond, top-10 all-time in state history in the 300-meter hurdles, had 1,749 all-purpose yards last fall.
But the numbers could be better across the board. All five players have another year of development and Tempel and Abbott especially struggled with turnovers. Hill wants to see Tempel improve his mental game and not be "careless carrying it and throwing it."
Tempel tacked on 946 rushing yards, 1,531 passing yards and 23 scores, but had 18 turnovers. Liberal was minus-5 in turnover margin.
"For us to make a bigger stride this year, he has got to take care of the football," Hill said.
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