Arch Manning wasn’t the only backup quarterback in Texas to impress last week.
In relief of Rockwall starting signal caller Landyn Locke, junior Brent Rickert led the team to a 42-27 win over Lewisville last week. Rickert passed for 312 yards and four touchdowns.
He stepped into the starting role in Rockwall’s 45-42 Week 2 loss to state-ranked Lake Travis. Locke, a three-star Wisconsin pledge, went down with a season-ending torn ACL after going 16-for-24 for 211 yards and two touchdowns.
Off the bench, Rickert threw for 116 yards and a touchdown.
“He’s done such a great job,” Rockwall coach Trey Brooks said. " Seeing the way he went out there and performed is a testament to how he’s prepared himself.”
When starters go down, backup quarterbacks must be ready. Coaches prepare backups in a variety of ways, and Brooks said he does so by treating everyone in the quarterback room like they are No. 1 on the depth chart.
It’s a philosophy he adopted after his time playing football at Texas A&M. Brooks was a walk-on, but he said his coach acted as if he was playing in the game each week.
“In meetings and things like that, I talk to every one of them like they’re the starter. I just want them to feel that and I expect them to know what to do,” Brooks said. “The expectation is the same for all of the guys.”
Still, the starter gets more snaps, Brooks said.
“You just have to do that in order for them to get the reps that they need to get,” he said, " but we work really hard here to make sure that the backup is getting sufficient reps throughout the week.”
Last year, Argyle lost its senior starting quarterback John Gailey to a season-ending injury in a district game against Lake Dallas. Then-sophomore Maguire Gasperson entered the game, passing for 145 yards and two touchdowns in Argyle’s 52-21 win.
The next week against Frisco Emerson, the No. 4 5A team in the Dallas-area at the time, Gasperson passed for 314 yards and a touchdown in a 41-34 win that helped Argyle clinch the district title.
“Maguire had gotten a significant amount of reps. …It wasn’t too far-fetched for him to step in and be ready to go,” Argyle coach Todd Rodgers said. “A lot of these quarterbacks, especially in the metroplex, they’ve been to one or two quarterback trainers at some point in the offseason.”
Rodgers said there isn’t a need to spend as much time on mechanics.
“It’s more about getting the in and out of your plays offensively and executing the schemes that you have,” Rodgers said.
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