TERRE HAUTE —
A few minutes after being announced as one of his high school football team’s four captains for the upcoming season at the conclusion of Monday morning’s practice, Danny Etling called it the best thing that had happened to him since the end of the 2011 campaign.
So if Terre Haute South fans are looking for a good omen for the upcoming season, that should be one. After all, Etling’s offseason didn’t lack for other highlights.
“I was offered [a football scholarship] by ISU, Purdue, Iowa and Colorado, and Wisconsin came in late,” the senior quarterback said in listing some of them. “I accepted a scholarship from Purdue [in the spring], I went to a bunch of Elite 11 camps [with the best quarterbacks in the nation], I got my ranking up to 169 in the nation [among all senior players] and I got voted team captain. [Being chosen by my teammates] was the best so far.”
“Obviously he had a great offseason,” coach Mark Raetz said of Etling, who neglected to add the Manning Passing Academy — where he hung out with the son of one of his biggest fans, former Brave and current Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Cam Cameron — to his list of activities. “He’s taken part in some camps and some events that to my knowledge no one else around here has been invited to.
“[Those honors] represent the level and amount of hard work and commitment he’s put in to be the best quarterback he can be,” Raetz continued. “Everything he’s done, he’s earned.
“Now we just need it to translate onto the field this season.”
That’s where his own focus is too, the 6-foot-3, 215-pound Etling said Monday.
“I think we have a really good team, and will have a lot better season [than last year’s 3-7],” he noted. “All the guys have great chemistry, and we all look out for each other.”
A little luck wouldn’t hurt either. South started 3-0 last fall and looked like an offensive powerhouse — until Etling ran out of people to throw to, and the Braves’ offense wasn’t hard to figure out.
“I think three receivers got hurt the first three weeks,” Etling recalled, “and after that we couldn’t get over the hump.”
Two of those injured receivers, current seniors Tyler Seibert and Logan Steward, have proven to be fully recovered — and there were others who got some experience when they were unavailable a year ago.
“Having Seibert [another of the South captains, along with lineman Brandon Russell-Cherry and defensive back/linebacker Derik Whalen] and Stewie back will be a big help,” Etling predicted. “We’ve got a lot of weapons.”
Unquestionably the quarterback is one of the biggest of those weapons. Although Etling didn’t make the final Elite 11 list for its televised final — 25 quarterbacks competed for 11 spots in a five-day session at Redondo Beach, Calif. — he was very close, and had first-place votes from some of the selectors.
Of course this year’s South opponents are aware of that too.
“They’re not going to take us lightly,” Etling said of the teams on South’s schedule. “I’m going to have a target on my back … and we’re not a sleeper team anymore. But my teammates will help take a lot of the pressure off my back; they’ll bear it with me.”
“It’ll be a little different,” Raetz said as he looked forward to the season. “We know teams will be coming at us, and doing what they can to take away what Danny does well.
“But we have most of our offense back, outside of the running backs. We’ve made some adjustments and we’ve added some things,” the coach continued. “And with the schedule we play, it’s always going to be a challenge, no matter what we do offensively.”
Sports
Related Photos
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Tribune-Star/Joseph C. Garza He'll keep this one: Terre Haute South quarterback Danny Etling fakes the handoff to teammate Ian Newton during the Braves' first practice of the season Monday at South.
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Tribune-Star/Joseph C. Garza Long range: Terre Haute South quarterback Danny Etling spots an open wide receiver down the field during the Braves' first day of practice Monday at South.
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Tribune-Star/Joseph C. Garza Grab and go: Terre Haute South's Tyler Seibert cuts through the defense after he caught a Danny Etling pass during the Braves' first day of practice Monday at South.
Discussion
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Indiana starting pitcher Joey DeNato (23) celebrates throwing out Louisville's Coco Johnson (20) at first for the second out in the bottom of the ninth inning in an NCAA College World Series game in Omaha, Neb., Saturday, June 15, 2013 (AP Photo/The World-Herald, Ryan Soderlin) MAGS OUT; ALL NEBRASKA LOCAL BROADCAST TV OUT
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