Gabriel Pruett
The Port Arthur News | Posted: Monday, August 4, 2014 5:55 pm
The Port Neches-Groves Indians did not waste time throwing out a big headline to start the 2014 football season.
Coach Brandon Faircloth announced on the first day of practice that junior Adam Morse will be the team’s No. 1 quarterback and senior Ky Walker will be starting in the Indians secondary. Walker spent most of last season under center for the Indians.
Faircloth said there was never a quarterback competition between the two players who have both been on varsity since they were sophomores.
“The best situation for the lndians, in my opinion, is when both Morse and Walker are starters and on the field,” Faircloth said. “This move is what is best for our team. Ky is such a versatile player. This is done out of a necessity for what we need on defense. We needed a leader on defense and Ky Walker is the perfect person to do that for PN-G.
“It is for the best if both Adam and Ky are always on the field. Those two guys are great football players and we need both of them to do the jobs we ask of them.”
Faircloth pointed to the fact Walker led the Indians with four interceptions as a sophomore in 2012.
Morse did take some snaps last year for the Indians. He rushed for four touchdowns and threw for one, with 316 passing yards as the backup behind Walker. Morse also did a great job over the summer in leading the Indians, along with Walker, to the state 7-on-7 tournament.
“Adam is going to do a great job for us in this new role as starting quarterback,” Faircloth said. “He has a strong arm and is a big kid who will help us out in the running game. He did that for us last year a couple times. Adam is a smart kid who will do a good job for us on offense. This was a great problem to have.”
Morse had two rushing touchdowns last year against Beaumont Ozen in a thrilling 22-20 PN-G win with one District 20-4A game to go. The victory all but locked up a playoff spot for the Indians who went 7-4 a year ago and 5-2 in league play.
Walker will now be asked to lead a secondary which lost defensive backs Corbin Coy and Brandon Bryan. The Indians gave up 18 points per game in 2013.
“There is nobody walking around with their heads down because we made this decision,” Faircloth said. “We had to make the best decision for our football team and we feel this is the right call. We needed a leader on both offense and defense.
“Ky is the perfect player for that on defense and we think Adam can be one of those guys on offense. Ky can do anything on a football field. You would have to look very hard to find a better Indian than what Ky Walker has been in his time at PN-G. He is going to add to that history this year on defense.”
Walker threw for 2,135 yards a season ago as quarterback. He had 14 touchdowns while also throwing 14 interceptions. He missed a better part of the Indians third game against Humble Summer Creek after being injured.
As far as the rest of the Indians at practice Monday, Faircloth said his team seemed to remember a lot over the summer.
“We had a lot of retention from last year and the spring,” Faircloth added. “We certainly are not ready to play a game yet. We have a long way to go before that but I liked what I saw. We had a lot of energy and now we just have to keep that up and get better.”
The Indians are keeping to a schedule that has practice starting around 6 a.m. for the entire first week.
PN-G’s first scrimmage will be August 15 when the Indians bring in both Little Cypress-Mauriceville and Hamshire-Fannett.
