It has become quite a familiar sight at Nottingham High football games this year. Quarterback Deonte West takes the snap, drops back, scours the field for receivers and sees none open.
Panic? Nah!
Instead, West takes off and provides the Northstars with another big play, often going for a first down or touchdown. It was exactly what the Northstar coaches were counting on in late August, when they deemed West the starting quarterback after he battled George Hreiz for the job during training camp.
“For a long time I was locked in on the fact he would rotate with George,” coach Jon Adams said. “But I sat down with the coaches, and we decided that Deonte gives us that ability to make something happen with his legs when things break down.”
Adams emphasized that Hreiz can and will be a good quarterback, but it is West’s added dimension that gives him the edge when the pass rush is too fast or the coverage is too good.
“Our offensive coordinator (Ross Maddalon) said our best play is when he pulls the ball down and goes, because he always ends up on endzone when he does,” Adams said. “He gets touchdowns where it looks like he’s in peril and all of a sudden running out the backside for a touchdown to bail us out. That comes from natural instincts, backyard ball. He has the green light to do it.”
West does not rush for massive amount of yards. In the Northstars 4-2 start, the junior ran for 189 on 35 carries. But five of those runs resulted in touchdowns, including one against Hopewell Valley and two against West Windsor-Plainsboro North in come-from-behind victories.
And while it’s nice that he can scamper from trouble, West is still trying to learn to stay in the pocket longer.
“It’s kind of hard for me, because I know my abilities running the ball,” he said. “After I drop back, I try to stay in as long as I can.”
It’s the type of awareness quarterbacks need to develop over time. The more they experience it, the more natural it becomes but when a guy is good at running, it might take a little longer.
“He’s struggled with his reads and his progressions but he’s gotten better,” Adams said. “The more he does it the better he’ll become.
“He’s got the arm strength to be a good passer, there’s no question about it. His downfall right now is where to go with the football, going through his progressions and reads. The mental part of playing quarterback is still a reactionary game. Because he’s such a great athlete he can handle that, but he needs a little more film study, more classroom time.”
In 9th grade, West played quarterback for the freshman and JV teams before getting elevated to varsity last year. With three games remaining in the season, Nottingham switched quarterback Mike Malagrino to running back and decided to give the sophomore his chance.
The growing pains were obvious in a 0-3 start, but West hung in there.
“I watched a lot of games from the sidelines, and when I got in it was very tough,” he said. “At first, it was a fast moving game, but after I played a while, I just got more comfortable and it just slowed down. I got frustrated at first but after a couple games, I knew I had my junior and senior year to get better.”
West felt more at ease when the coaches informed him he would be the main man this season, saying that, “It meant a lot to me. He said we were going to rotate, but I don’t like to rotate. When practice arrived, I just worked hard.”
After his three-game trial last year, West entered this season much more comfortable. In the opener against Hightstown, he threw just one pass as Nottingham ran the ball. The Northstars continued to run it behind prized freshman Dionte Nicholson, which took pressure off West not to have to carry the load with his arm.
When he did throw it, the quarterback made some spectacular passes and some bad ones. His passing statistics reflect his inconsistencies, as he completed 19 of 44 for 299 yards, four touchdowns and six interceptions through six games.
“I still feel like I’ve matured,” West said. “I feel like I’m very smart now, and I know I can make the right reads.”
Adams concurred with that, saying “he has done far more good things than bad this year.”
“He’s done a great job of running the offense,” Adams said. “He struggled a little bit with the play clock and clock management, but that’s been fixed. He’s excelling at the position. He has that ability, because of that athleticism, to make something out of nothing. He’s done it over and over again to put us in good positions.”
By nature of the position, a quarterback has to also lead a team, which is something else West has done. It is in that area that Adams is most impressed.
“He’s taking charge and taking hold of the offense,” the coach said. “That was probably a weakness of his, to be quite frank, as a sophomore. He was thrust into that position a little ahead of schedule.”
It’s a job that West has embraced.
“It’s fun for me to take the leadership,” he said. “I goof around a lot so they never know when I’m serious, so I gotta let them know when I’m really serious.”
He had to do that several times during the first half of the season, when the Stars rallied from substantial deficits to defeat Hopewell Valley and West Windsor-Plainsboro North. He nearly brought them back from a 19-0 deficit at Notre Dame before an interception in the endzone sealed a 19-14 loss.
“When we’re down now, I tell everybody not to give up, that we’ve been in this position before,” West said. “It’s not that big of a difference being down. There’s no such thing as a 19-point lead if they have faith they can come back.”
Not surprisingly, West used his legs to help fuel those comebacks. And it’s those kind of plays that have Adams happy with his decision.
“My expectations going into the season,” he said, “have been far exceeded and rewarded for making this move.”
Nottingham’s Deonte West prepares to hand off the ball during a 40-7 win Oct. 7, 2016 at West Windsor-Plainsboro South. (Photo by Suzette J. Lucas.),
