Marty Gordon
Every time Radford and Blacksburg take to the football field this season, there is a major youth movement, especially at the quarterback position.
Over in Radford, sophomore Luke Gaither has completed 147 passes on 245 attempts for 1,708 yards. He is following the footsteps of Landon Clark, last year’s All-county/All-city player of the year. The now-Elon QB completed 146 passes 216 on attempts with only one interception. In guiding the Bobcats to last year’s state title, he threw for 2,668 yards and 40 touchdowns and rushed 104 times for 412 yards with seven individual scores.
During the regular season last year, Clark led the Bobcats to a 10-0 season while passing 133 for 219 with 2,247 yards and 17 touchdowns. He has also rushed 73 times for 792 yards with 20 scores. As a junior, he threw for 2,668 yards and 40 touchdowns and rushed 104 times for 412 yards with seven individual scores.
Gaither is starting to put up similar numbers including 16 touchdowns across seven games with just five interceptions.
In Blacksburg, the Bruins have won more games this year than in the past three combined. A lot of that rests on the shoulders of another sophomore, Blacksburg quarterback Sam Szefc, who put up some lofty numbers as an underclassman in his first year under center.
He has completed 48 of 99 passes yards with nine touchdown to go with five interceptions.
But some of that success on the Bruins’ offense also lies in the hands of sophomore running back Jaxon Keys, who is nearing the 1000-yard mark.
Keys has rushed 129 times for 947 yards and looks destined to finish over a 1,000 yards this season, something the Blacksburg football program has not seen in a very long time.
The youngster has scored nine times this season.
The future is bright with future young stars just on the horizon.