LITTLE ROCK — There was no quarterback controversy this fall at Greenbrier.
Sophomore Neal Burcham was the man, and had been expected to be the man for several years.
“It wasn’t any big secret to anybody,” Greenbrier Coach Randy Tribble said of the 6-2, 175-pound Burcham. “He had everybody’s respect, and they knew he was going to make a big difference on our team. Even the seniors looked up to him and were excited about him real, real quick.”
Burcham threw for 275 yards and four touchdowns in a season-opening 31-22 victory at Beebe.
It only got better.
Burcham, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Sophomore Offensive Player of the Year, finished the season by completing 247 of 377 passes for 3,384 yards and 34 touchdowns.
Tribble said he wasn’t surprised about Burcham’s prolific numbers after the quarterback led Greenbrier’s junior high team to a 10-0 record in 2008 and had strong performances in several major 7-on-7 tournaments last summer.
Burcham, who normally lined up in the Shotgun in a Spread formation, threw for at least 300 yards in five games, completed 65.5 percent of his passes and was intercepted only seven times.
Burcham’s arrival coincided with a major surge in Greenbrier’s offensive production and one of the state’s biggest turnarounds.
Greenbrier finished 9-4 andadvanced to the Class 5A playoff semifinals after finishing 1-9 in 2008.
The Panthers averaged 34 points per game this fall, almost 20 points higher than 2008.
“He’s really got a great personality, great quarterback demeanor,” Tribble said. “He sees the field. It’s just unbelievable how fast he picks up our passing game concepts and how quick he can see it and know where people are going to be. His accuracy is just awesome for a young guy that hasn’t thrown it all that much before this year.”
Greenbrier’s signature pass play is a screen, but Tribble said Burcham iscapable of making any type of throw. His touch, Tribble said, is as good as any quarterback he’s ever been around.
“But then if he needs to make a hole throw on the sideline, 20 yards deep, between the corner and safety, he does that, too,” said Tribble, who coached Harding University from 1994-2007. “He can throw all kinds of balls. He can throw the short screen over a guy’s head if needs to, the deep ball down the sideline, the hole throw and throws the ball over the middle well, too. There’s not a throw we’re afraid of with Neal.”
Offensive coordinator Todd Langrell also called Burcham coachable and highly competitive.
Burcham had never lost a football game, Langrell said, before a 33-7 setback to Heber Springs on Sept. 18.
“I can recall he stayed at the field house until everybody left,” Langrell said. “I had to make him go home.”
Sports, Pages 31 on 12/27/2009