James enters second year at QB with confidence
BY WAYNE WITKOWSKI
Staff Writer

CHRIS KELLY staff Brick Memorial quarterback Chris James is back to lead the Mustangs on the gridiron this fall, after leading this squad to a state championship last year, his first as a quarterback.

It was only mid-August, but Chris James many times looked in mid-season form as Brick Memorial’s quarterback.

He was firing 15- and 20-yard passes downfield that 6-foot 4-inch Garrett Graham reached up and pulled in against nearly helpless, undersized defenders, just as he did in the Mustangs’ march to the NJSIAA Central Jersey championship last fall.

"I’m looking for him to catch the ball with no hands, maybe in his face mask," said Chris as both players shared a laugh.

In fact, he was completing passes to both sides of the field and commandeering an offense that was clearing paths for its running backs for plus-yardage on nearly every play.

Sure, it was only an intrasquad scrimmage against a defense that lost half its starters to graduation, and had some other two-way players positioned on the offensive side, like the heralded Graham. But it was far different than a year ago when Chris was learning the position after playing as a running back on the freshman team the previous season. The position was vacated when the returning quarterback chose to focus instead on his outstanding wrestling career.

"My dad told me to do it," Chris said of switching to quarterback.

"We had a lot of senior leadership last year."

But the junior is no longer battling to win the position, and instead is fine-tuning his skills at it. Now he must set an example by his words as well as his athletically-talented performance.

"He got a lot better than last year. He’s a leader," Garrett said.

And surviving the greater challenge of the state playoffs was the best baptism of fire for him.

"Experience definitely helps," said a smiling Chris, who is noticeably taller and even more sturdily built than a year ago. "I’m more mature. I know the plays. Now I have to run them better."

Chris can afford to smile after last year’s season-ending success, although it wasn’t always the case during the season when he struggled at times in the three losses. He said he started feeling comfortable in his new role "after the first game" against Manalapan, which Brick Memorial would eventually play again in the state championship game, but agrees with coach Fred Sprengel that his biggest drawback was inconsistency at times.

"I just have to work harder, work at it every day," said Chris, who feels "reinforcing" with repetition is the key.

That includes throwing the ball.

"I have to work on my throws, throwing off my upfield shoulder," he said. "My steps dropping back have to be quick."

And he’ll look to get to the perimeter where his natural talents take over. Chris needs to be another threat running the ball, especially early in the season as a number of new linemen look to develop the needed chemistry up front and a new backfield finds its way. That includes fullback Andy Case, who played only on defense at linebacker last season.

"It’s coming along," said Case, who said that he and Chris are in a better frame of mind getting ready for football after a very successful year at catcher and pitcher, respectively, for Brick Memorial’s significantly improved varsity baseball team and the vastly improved American Legion baseball team that qualified for the state tournament. "It seems like yesterday that we won the state championship. Now everyone’s going to be out gunning for us."

Although Chris admitted last season’s success makes feelings approaching practices "a little different" from a year ago, he and Andy agreed that practices themselves "are not really different" after spending the past few weeks in helmets and pads.

They’ll find out in the days ahead how different things feel when the contact is against unfamiliar players in scrimmages against other high school teams, with players also looking to prove themselves to their coach against a state championship team.