With new quarterback and coach, Palmetto breaks in a new offense

The future Dave Marino had been preparing for arrived early last fall when Miami-bound quarterback Jack Allison missed the season finale, and Jason Spicer Jr. was pressed into action.

Marino, former quarterbacks coach Seth Varnadore and Spicer had three days to prepare the sophomore quarterback’s debut. The plan was always for him to move from wide receiver to quarterback for his junior season. The timeline was just accelerated. With less than a week, Spicer had to be ready to play Punta Gorda Charlotte with Charlotte one win from a perfect regular season.

The Tarpons did what they were supposed to, pounding the Tigers by 25 points while Spicer was limited to flashes of potential.

“He grew with every series,” Marino said. “We had three days, basically, to prepare him, and he had a game against a friggin’ stud team. It was no warm-up.”

Spicer will return to the field as Palmetto’s quarterback Friday in St. Petersburg. This time he will have more than 200 days of preparation, including five weeks of spring football. After running a pro-style offense in each of Marino’s first six years in Palmetto and using it to reach the postseason five times, Spicer and the Tigers will usher in a new era.

For the next two seasons, Spicer is expected to lead, at least partially with legs, and now the Tigers have a quarterbacks coach fit to help Spicer maximize his ability.

Varnadore, who was also the Tigers’ offensive coordinator last season, left the program to take a job as the tight ends coach at Division II Tusculum College in Tennessee. Marino had a chance to search for a replacement suited to work with his new quarterback and the new offense he needed to switch to.

Enter Ty Stoldt. The new quarterbacks coach is taking his first full-time position after finishing his playing career at Division III SUNY Brockport in 2015. He was a spread-option quarterback for the Golden Eagles, where he once tied a school record with five touchdown passes in one game. He will be Spicer’s guide to dual-threat success.

“I’m a little familiar with it,” Stoldt said. “We’ve kind of installed some of the stuff I’ve done in the past and he’s ran with it.”

Stoldt has been impressed by Spicer’s poise and willingness to stand in the pocket. The converted wide receiver doesn’t feel like an athlete playing quarterback, Stoldt said, but rather a quarterback who is also athletic, especially considering his limited experience as a full-time quarterback.

When the season ended, Spicer went to play basketball for Palmetto, and when basketball season ended he went to play 7-on-7 for Team Elite until spring practice began. He began to hone his passing skills for Elite — there’s no running when there are no linemen — but he was still playing some wide receiver.

Palmetto decided to stretch its spring practices across the full five weeks this season, rather than using the four that most teams have. The Tigers haven’t needed to rush Spicer, and the rising junior has still picked up the diverse sort of option sets Palmetto is hoping to use. Spicer will not be playing out of the shotgun and running read options; he’ll also play under center with three running backs behind him to run a true triple option. During Wednesday’s practice, Palmetto practiced both.

The one time Spicer was on the field as a quarterback for the Tigers there was one drive to showcase why Palmetto has faith in him as its new signalcaller. On Palmetto’s only scoring drive against the Tarpons, Spicer ran for 22 yards and threw for 37 to set up a short field goal. He was limited then. This Friday, the Tigers are ready to let him loose.

“My coaches are going to put me in good spots to execute and obviously I’ve got to execute myself,” Spicer said. “We’ve put in a lot of work and I think it’s going to pay off.”

This story was originally published May 26, 2016 at 12:56 AM with the headline "With new quarterback and coach, Palmetto breaks in a new offense."