Ty Storey is no late bloomer.
Most young athletes are brought along slowly to prepare them, to avoid exposing them to too much at a young age.
Storey is the exact opposite of that.
He will be Charleston’s starting quarterback as a sophomore this year. As a first-grader, he started on his third-grade team. As a seventh-grader, he started at quarterback for the ninth-grade team.
As a freshman, he started at linebacker in the playoffs and helped the Tigers win the Class 3A state title. He already has a scholarship offer from Arkansas State.
“He is one of those kids you’ve heard about since second grade,” Charleston Coach Doug Loughridge said. “We watched him all the way through pee-wee football. Finally, we got him.”
You can excuse Loughridge’s giddiness. When he called Storey up to varsity last season, Loughridge was curious how Storey would handle the step up in competition.
On the first series against Harding Academy, Storey forced a fumble. On the second, he intercepted a pass. On the third, he knocked an opponent out of the game with a hard tackle.
“You could put Ty on the offensive line and he would be our best offensive lineman,” Loughridge said. “He would be our best linebacker. He will be our kicker and punter if we can’t find someone else to do it.”
Storey, 6-2, 220 pounds, is the son of Charleston Principal Shane Storey, who lettered as a walk-on offensive lineman at Arkansas in 1987 and later served as Charleston’s head coach.
But the idea that Ty inherited his father’s athleticism makes everyone laugh.
No, Ty Storey inherited his mother’s talents. Diana Parker Storey was a high school basketball star — “That’s what she says anyway,” Ty Storey said — and comes from a family of athletic stars.
“I was a better football player than her,” Shane Storey said.
Diana’s sister, Missy, played basketball at SMU where she holds the school record with 290 career steals, and Ty’s cousin Carrie Parker lettered four years for Arkansas’ women’s basketball team. Ty Storey’s maternal grandfather, Tommy Parker, played football at Arkansas State.
“I guess I get it from both sides,” Ty Storey said diplomatically. “That’s a major question. My dad always pushes me and stays on me about working out. My mom is like that, too.”
Loughridge said he vividly recalls Shane Storey bringing 3-year-old Ty to a basketball game and then play-snapping footballs to him.
“Shane had already got him in position to say, ‘Hut, hut,’ ” Loughridge said.
Shane Storey said he tried to have his daughter, Ashley, and Ty work the sideline when he was coaching Charleston. Ashley was a natural with the water bottles, but Ty was hopeless.
“He would never waterboy,” Shane Storey said. “He was always off throwing a football.”
It was Shane Storey who got his son involved in football in first grade when Ty brought home a flyer about a local soccer league for children. Shane Storey arranged to have his son practice — just practice — with the third-grade team instead and soon Ty was playing. The next year he was the quarterback.
“He has always quarterbacked a couple of years ahead,” Shane Storey said. “Ty has always been mature for his age. The competition part didn’t scare him.”
None of the hype and toddler-age success, it seems, has gone to Ty Storey’s head. Loughridge said Storey is the hardest-working player he has coached, and Storey talks nothing but team.
“I just go and do my thing and whatever happens, happens,” Storey said. “I’ve always tried to do my job to help the team. I go out and do the best I can. That’s all you can do.”
Storey did admit that he was itching for a chance to show his stuff when Charleston started its playoff run last year. When Loughridge gave him a shot at linebacker, he leapt at the chance.
“It was cool just to see what it was like,” Storey said. “That’s what high school football is all about. My competitive side wanted to get in.”
Shane Storey is managing to maintain a level of caution about his son’s promising career. It’s still just promise right now.
“Potential is the key word,” Storey said. “Things are pretty easy in junior high.”