SOPHOMORE OFFENSIVE PLAYERS OF THE YEAR

Storey, Hill better than their billing

Charleston quarterback Ty Storey (No. 4), at 6-3 and 217 pounds, stood out even before he passed for nearly 4,400 yards and 46 touchdowns.
Charleston quarterback Ty Storey (No. 4), at 6-3 and 217 pounds, stood out even before he passed for nearly 4,400 yards and 46 touchdowns.

— Expectations were high this summer for Charleston quarterback Ty Storey and Bryant wide receiver K.J. Hill.

photo

El Dorado News-Times

Bryant’s K.J. Hill showed his skills early in the 7-on-7 season and finished with 48 catches and 11 touchdowns.

Both players met those expectations to share the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Sophomore Offensive Player of the Year award.

The strong-armed Storey obliterated every major single-season passing record at Charleston, finishing 328 of 503 for 4,397 yards and 46 touchdowns.

“I’ve never been around one like him, on any level I’ve coached,” Tigers Coach Doug Loughridge said. “He’s definitely special. He’s a very special player.”







RELATED ARTICLES

http://www.arkansas…">All-Arkansas footballhttp://www.arkansas…">Bulldogs best in showhttp://www.arkansas…">ALL-ARKANSAS PLAYER CAPSULEShttp://www.arkansas…">Secondary education for Cabot’s Fergusonhttp://www.arkansas…">Fayetteville’s Ellis turns in repeat performancehttp://www.arkansas…">SUPER SOPHOMORE PLAYER CAPSULES

Hill amassed more than 1,400 all-purpose yards, highlighted by 48 receptions for 845 yards and 11 touchdowns for the Class 7A Hornets.

“That kid is a special one,” Bryant Coach Paul Calley said. “He played like a senior.”

At 6-3, 217 pounds, Storey already looks more like a senior.

Storey helped Charleston win the Class 3A state championship at linebacker as a freshman and was so advanced physically that, as a second-grader, he played for a local fourth-grade peewee team, Loughridge said.

Storey became Charleston’s starting junior high quarterback midway through his seventh-grade season.

“He had a full-grown beard as an eighth-grader,” Loughridge said. “But even when you sit down and talk with him, he doesn’t sound like a kid. He’s really mature. I think a lot of that is because he grew up around football because of his dad.”

Storey’s father, Shane, coached the Tigers to a 119-28-1 record from 1992-2003before becoming the school’s principal.

Now, it’s his son generating plenty of headlines.

Storey helped the youthful Tigers - the team had only three seniors - finish 9-3, despite playing much of the season on an injured knee.

Storey was offered a scholarship before the season by Arkansas State, and Loughridge figures a wave of offers will come after the player hits the college camp circuit this summer.

Storey, however, will spend the next several months rehabilitating his left knee after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament, an injury that apparently was the result of wear and tear dating to last year’s junior high football season, Loughridge said.

Loughridge said Storey’s surgery was performed in late November by renowned orthopedist James Andrews, adding the quarterback is expected to return in late May for the 7-on-7 season.

Hill, 6-0, 175, was a 7-on-7 standout last summer and, like Storey, made a smooth transition to high school competition.

Maybe the most gifted athlete in the state’s sophomore class, Hill had at least one touchdown reception in eight games, had a 100-yard rushing game and two games with more than 100 receiving yards.

Calley said he believes Hill’s role next fall could be similar to how Greenwood used senior wide receiver Drew Morgan, the 2012 Democrat-Gazette Offensive Player of the Year.

“Every way we can design to get it to K.J., that’s what we’re going to do,” Calley said.

Fluid and fast on the football field, Hill is also an outstanding basketball player, rated by one Internet recruiting site, future150.com, the 49th-best player nationally in the 2015 class.

“I told his daddy he’s 49 in the top 150 in basketball, but he’s 47 in football,” Calley said. “It’s going to be exciting the next two years.”

Sports, Pages 33 on 12/16/2012

Upcoming Events