Friday, April 19, 2024
Coming into the 2022 football season, the Gatesville Hornets were facing their first quarterback dilemma they had faced since 2019.
In 2020 and 2021, head coach Luke Howard had at least one returning quarterback option with varsity experience. In 2020, he had Wesley Brown and Luke Mullins readily available, and it was Mullins who ultimately guided the Hornets to the playoffs and earned first-team all-district honors.
In 2021, Brown took over as the full-time starter in the fourth game of the season and led the Hornets to the playoffs for the second year in a row en route to his own first-team all-district recognition.
Brown’s departure meant that, for the first time since 2019, there was no definitive choice for the Hornets at quarterback heading into this season under head coach Aaron Hunter.
Enter Jacob Newkirk.
The junior, who missed a significant portion of his sophomore season on junior varsity, won the job in camp and has steadily improved each week in guiding the Hornets to a 3-1 mark. In the four games, he has thrown nine touchdowns and a two-point conversion, with four interceptions.
In the season-opening win over Taylor, Newkirk spent the first half shaking off nerves. He came alive in the second half and led a fourth-quarter scoring drive that culminated in a touchdown pass and two-point conversion to Kyle Shafer for a 22-21 win over the Ducks.
Since the Hornets’ only loss of the season to Glen Rose (in which he was 21 of 37 with two touchdown passes and two interceptions), Newkirk has hit his stride in wins over McGregor and Mexia.
“At the start of the first couple of games I came out slow and would pick it up during the second half,” Newkirk said. “After having a talk with Coach Hunter I realized I just needed to come out and do my job, so that’s what I did.”
In the last two games – both wins – Newkirk has gone 31 of 41 passing, with four touchdown passes and just one interception. He’s thrown for 434 yards combined in the two wins.
He was at his best against Mexia, going 20 of 26 for 287 yards through the air, with three touchdown passes, and added two rushing scores. He completed touchdown passes of 25 yards and 26 yards, and found senior receiver Trevor Smith on completions of 45 and 80 yards.
Offensive coordinator Jacob Hunter sees how the game is slowing down in the decision-making process for his signal-caller.
“It’s his decision-making. He doesn't turn a bad play into a worse one. So he salvages each play,” he said, “And as you saw (against Mexia), there's a couple times he just checks down off his reads and just gets 10 yards. And that's what we do. And so his decision making has been fantastic.”
Head coach Aaron Hunter noted that Newkirk’s improvement has been a combination of experience, coaching, and the weapons around him. He has completed passes to 10 different receivers in four games and has thrown touchdown passes to six different receivers.
“Like I've said all along, he's very inexperienced. He played two or three games last year because of injuries and everything else that happened to him so in all of his high school he's only had at the most 10 to 12 games experience as a high school quarterback. So he's really getting comfortable,” Aaron Hunter said. “I think our receivers help him do that. Coach (Jacob) Hunter is putting together great game plans that give him easy reads and get the ball in his hands quick, which gets him comfortable. So I think overall, he's taking a ton of steps. I'm super proud.”
Newkirk is quick to attribute his early success to the culture he and his teammates are working to create.
“Everybody is on the same page and bought in to the culture that Coach Hunter has created for us. That’s a big part of our success,” Newkirk said. “The vibe in the locker room is like nothing I’ve seen before since my freshman year. We are a family once we step foot in that locker room.”
