Lakewood Ranch, Southeast pick QBs for different reasons

Lakewood Ranch and Southeast will be keeping an eye on their quarterbacks during fall practice, but they will be looking for different things.

Justin Curtis has already won the heart of Lakewood Ranch head coach Mic Koczersut after a tough sophomore season last year and showed remarkable progress in the Mustangs’ spring game victory over Booker.

Alex Taylor goes into fall practice is the starting quarterback for Southeast, but he didn’t play last year, and the junior has growing pains to go through that will likely be similar to what Curtis experienced.

“Big thing is that this game is real fast to a sophomore, especially with the people we play,” Coach K said. “He took his lumps, worked hard during the off season, and we are expecting big things from him. He is our quarterback.”

Last season, Curtis was in a battle to win the quarterback job and admits it can be unnerving at times. He feels good about being the guy, and it has given him a nice confidence booster.

“It doesn’t push me as hard, but it’s better not knowing I am going to be beat out,” Curtis said. “Things were a lot faster than I thought they would be last year, but it slowed down for me around the sixth or seventh game.”

A major emphasis this spring and fall for Koczersut is establishing a change in attitude that focuses bringing back fun to the game, especially after last year’s disappointing 3-7 season.

“The biggest thing we need to do is enjoy the game of football. We need to learn how to have some fun with this “ Koczersut said. “The game is too hard to be miserable all the time. It’s the biggest thing we’ve changed as coaches, more than Xs and Os. We live in a social media world where people who are not involved in any sports can make fun of you.”

At 6-foot-5, 190 pounds with a strong arm, Taylor seems to have all the intangibles, but lacks experience. He didn’t play as sophomore instead concentrating on basketball so he has a big learning curve.

“Alex had a really good summer and his light years away from where he was in the spring,” Southeast head coach Rashad West said. “He has talent, works hard and is very smart.”

Both teams spent the early part of the week working on technique and fundamentals. The first day of contact is Saturday and everyone is looking forward to that.

This story was originally published August 3, 2016 at 11:14 PM with the headline "Lakewood Ranch, Southeast pick QBs for different reasons."