David Henry | BeaumontEnterprise.com
May 26, 2011
Updated: May 26, 2011 1:18 p.m.
The Port Neches-Groves spring football game Friday night will be a new experience for junior quarterback Travis Miller.
He has played in the junior varsity spring game before but knows the varsity game, with thousands of fans in attendance, will be a different atmosphere.
All eyes will be on Miller, the new starting quarterback, as he takes over for Brennan Doty, last year’s starter who was the District 20-4A Offensive MVP and threw for almost 5,000 yards his final two seasons of high school.
“It will be a good experience having the crowd,” Miller said. “The last time I played was JV and there’s a big crowd difference. I’m looking forward to the intensity of the defense. They’ve been bringing it every practice but it’s a little different when you have plenty of fans watching you.”
The 6-foot-3 Miller has been groomed for the job since Brandon Faircloth took over as head coach in 2009. Miller was Doty’s backup on the varsity team last year.
“(Miller) has done a great job preparing himself to be starting QB,” Faircloth said. “He’s watched Brennan, studied Brennan every day and that has helped him.”
The Indians will change some of the offense to suit Miller. At Monday’s practice, Miller looked comfortable running the football and displayed a strong arm but did not seem as accurate as Doty throwing the football.
“We are going to want to run Travis a little more,” Faircloth said. “(Miller) is more of a running threat. When you get your quarterback involved in the running game, it opens things up a little bit more than in the past.”
Admission at PN-G’s spring game is open to the public and free. The offense will be the white team and defense will be the purple team. They will play two quarters with a regular timing and then the second half will have a running clock.
The first-team offense will start off against the first-team defense and after that things will get switched up as the coaches see fit.
Spring Games
Port Arthur Memorial
Friday at 7 p.m., Memorial Stadium
Port Neches-Groves
Friday at 7 p.m., The Reservation
