Post by Aggie One on Nov 9, 2007 7:38:43 GMT -5
I've watched this kid five times this year and I like him alot, good arm strength, escapability, and very quick. He is a local product. Hes' a little skinny but he's a legit 6-4 - a thinking man's QB.
Grimsley's Maynard: Catch him if you can
By Robert Bell
Staff Writer
Zach Maynard has rushed for 100 or more yards two times this season and thrown for 200 or more yards four times.
GREENSBORO — Here's the maddening thing about Zach Maynard: He is never there. Wherever he was, he is gone — off to somewhere else, unless he already has left there, too.
Linebackers might grab a fistful of his Grimsley football jersey or dive in vain for those slight hips. But rest assured they only end up clutching air, a false remnant of this quarterback who leaves the last feinting part of himself behind, like lingering smoke.
Maynard is generously listed as 6-feet-4 and 180 pounds. The effect of his elusiveness on a football field this season has been comical, if only his Metro 4-A opponents were laughing. He slip-slides away from dense clusters of linemen, scatters them with his counterfeit moves, then freezes and diminishes them across a humiliating expanse of field. Since his is not the most resilient physique around, Maynard must find alternate means of progress when he decides to tuck the ball and run. So he cuts back and forth in various fraudulent directions until frustrated defenders succumb and a way opens.
Nobody knows this better than Hopewell of Huntersville, the Whirlies' opponent Friday night in the first round of the 4-AA state playoffs. The Titans' coach, Chris Rust, has seen several tapes of Maynard in action and has been impressed.
"He's obviously going to be their biggest threat to us," Rust said Wednesday. "He's the kind of guy who can throw deep on you or pull the ball in and take off. We're going to have to maintain our assignments on defense if we want to contain him."
That's easier said than done.
In last month's game against Northwest Guilford, Maynard burned the Vikings for 88 yards rushing, threw for four touchdowns and ran for another.
"He's a great quarterback," said Joe Woodruff, Northwest Guilford's coach. "It's very hard to contain him for four quarters. He'll get you going one way, and then he's off in a completely different direction."
Maynard has all the trappings of a Michael Vick — only without those nagging felonies.
He has rushed for 100 yards or more twice this season — all the more impressive when you consider the Whirlies have four quality running backs — and has thrown for 200 yards or more in four games. When he gets the ball, which is on every snap, his purpose is frightfully clear.
"We think we can score every time we get the ball," he said. "And it's my job to help us do that."
Grimsley coach Mark Saunders expects Hopewell's small but quick defense to put pressure on Maynard from the start.
"If you're not careful, they can force you to make mistakes, and you can't make too many mistakes in the playoffs and move on," Saunders said. "So it's very important to have a guy like Zach at quarterback. He knows what to do every time out."
For his part, Maynard is treating Friday's game like any other. After all, he has been in the playoffs before. And two games against cross-town rival Page before 8,000 fans can make a first-round playoff game seem like an August scrimmage.
"I mean, there's pressure because if you lose you go home," Maynard said. "But when the game starts I don't think I'll be feeling any (pressure). I'll be having fun more than anything. I won't be thinking about pressure."
Saunders doesn't like to think what his first year as the Whirlies' head coach would have been like without Maynard running the offense. As a skinny sophomore, Maynard transferred to Grimsley from Eastern Guilford two years ago. This season, he replaced Josh Stewart as the starter.
He has the ability to arc a deep pass downfield to his brother, Keenan Allen , a dynamic runner himself, or muscle a slant pass over the middle to tight end Kelsey Stevens.
Maynard and Allen have grown up together playing football in the back yard or on weekends at Jamieson Stadium. It has gotten to the point that each knows the other's skills.
"We'll be walking to the line and just look at each other, and he knows the ball's coming to him," Maynard said. "It's just something you grow used to playing together so long."
And if neither kid brother nor Stevens is open, there's always Option No. 3: Tuck the ball and run.
Grimsley (10-1) will need every ounce of misdirection, juke and reverse Maynard can summon against Hopewell (10-1).
The Titans, led by 235-pound linebacker Stephen Rust, finished second to West Charlotte in the MECA-6 Conference, holding foes to an average of 190 yards and 12 points a game.
"From what we've seen of them (on film), they look big and fast," Maynard said. "Everyone is going to have to be on their game.
"I can't wait."
Contact Robert Bell at 373-7055 or rbell@news-record.com
Grimsley's Maynard: Catch him if you can
By Robert Bell
Staff Writer
Zach Maynard has rushed for 100 or more yards two times this season and thrown for 200 or more yards four times.
GREENSBORO — Here's the maddening thing about Zach Maynard: He is never there. Wherever he was, he is gone — off to somewhere else, unless he already has left there, too.
Linebackers might grab a fistful of his Grimsley football jersey or dive in vain for those slight hips. But rest assured they only end up clutching air, a false remnant of this quarterback who leaves the last feinting part of himself behind, like lingering smoke.
Maynard is generously listed as 6-feet-4 and 180 pounds. The effect of his elusiveness on a football field this season has been comical, if only his Metro 4-A opponents were laughing. He slip-slides away from dense clusters of linemen, scatters them with his counterfeit moves, then freezes and diminishes them across a humiliating expanse of field. Since his is not the most resilient physique around, Maynard must find alternate means of progress when he decides to tuck the ball and run. So he cuts back and forth in various fraudulent directions until frustrated defenders succumb and a way opens.
Nobody knows this better than Hopewell of Huntersville, the Whirlies' opponent Friday night in the first round of the 4-AA state playoffs. The Titans' coach, Chris Rust, has seen several tapes of Maynard in action and has been impressed.
"He's obviously going to be their biggest threat to us," Rust said Wednesday. "He's the kind of guy who can throw deep on you or pull the ball in and take off. We're going to have to maintain our assignments on defense if we want to contain him."
That's easier said than done.
In last month's game against Northwest Guilford, Maynard burned the Vikings for 88 yards rushing, threw for four touchdowns and ran for another.
"He's a great quarterback," said Joe Woodruff, Northwest Guilford's coach. "It's very hard to contain him for four quarters. He'll get you going one way, and then he's off in a completely different direction."
Maynard has all the trappings of a Michael Vick — only without those nagging felonies.
He has rushed for 100 yards or more twice this season — all the more impressive when you consider the Whirlies have four quality running backs — and has thrown for 200 yards or more in four games. When he gets the ball, which is on every snap, his purpose is frightfully clear.
"We think we can score every time we get the ball," he said. "And it's my job to help us do that."
Grimsley coach Mark Saunders expects Hopewell's small but quick defense to put pressure on Maynard from the start.
"If you're not careful, they can force you to make mistakes, and you can't make too many mistakes in the playoffs and move on," Saunders said. "So it's very important to have a guy like Zach at quarterback. He knows what to do every time out."
For his part, Maynard is treating Friday's game like any other. After all, he has been in the playoffs before. And two games against cross-town rival Page before 8,000 fans can make a first-round playoff game seem like an August scrimmage.
"I mean, there's pressure because if you lose you go home," Maynard said. "But when the game starts I don't think I'll be feeling any (pressure). I'll be having fun more than anything. I won't be thinking about pressure."
Saunders doesn't like to think what his first year as the Whirlies' head coach would have been like without Maynard running the offense. As a skinny sophomore, Maynard transferred to Grimsley from Eastern Guilford two years ago. This season, he replaced Josh Stewart as the starter.
He has the ability to arc a deep pass downfield to his brother, Keenan Allen , a dynamic runner himself, or muscle a slant pass over the middle to tight end Kelsey Stevens.
Maynard and Allen have grown up together playing football in the back yard or on weekends at Jamieson Stadium. It has gotten to the point that each knows the other's skills.
"We'll be walking to the line and just look at each other, and he knows the ball's coming to him," Maynard said. "It's just something you grow used to playing together so long."
And if neither kid brother nor Stevens is open, there's always Option No. 3: Tuck the ball and run.
Grimsley (10-1) will need every ounce of misdirection, juke and reverse Maynard can summon against Hopewell (10-1).
The Titans, led by 235-pound linebacker Stephen Rust, finished second to West Charlotte in the MECA-6 Conference, holding foes to an average of 190 yards and 12 points a game.
"From what we've seen of them (on film), they look big and fast," Maynard said. "Everyone is going to have to be on their game.
"I can't wait."
Contact Robert Bell at 373-7055 or rbell@news-record.com