Morencie drafts two local Royal Arcanum award winners
By Michal Tellos
Sports Editor
July 9, 2008
Jason Schneider and Corey Harris, recently drafted football rookies, have much in common, and Lancers football head coach Mike Morencie is equally excited about both of them.
Both Schneider and Harris were the 2007-2008 winners of the annual Royal Arcanum Award, each winning it in their respective division. Aside from the prestige of the award, it also came with a $1,000 purse for each winner.
Schneider is one of seven quarterbacks drafted by Morencie this season, and he led his high school, General Amherst, to an A/AA division championship. Morencie has recognized the maturity of the six-foot-five, 195-pound athlete.
“Jason at General Amherst had an outstanding year, leading his team to a championship. He showed a very mature level of play all year, throwing the football around,” he said. He also ended up playing in the OFSAA West Bowl, winning the championship, in addition to helping the basketball team reach the league final.
Harris, a six-foot-three 210-pound receiver from Brennan - a school that now has a collection of Royal Arcanum winners - has a slightly different history. The 2007-2008 season was, actually, his first ever playing football.
The multi-athlete usually played volleyball and basketball, but an injury during that season led him to try football, in which, thanks to his natural athletic ability, he quickly excelled.
“Corey is a multiple-sport guy, who, you know, is a basketball player who came into football late in his career, but he shows tremendous athleticism on the field,” said Morencie.
In addition to football, Harris was also a first-team all-star in baseball and basketball, playing several positions and scoring often from all of them. He also maintained a B level average throughout his high school years, while, furthermore, volunteering for a number of school-related activities.
Although both athletes are rookies, learning the ropes might be different for each of them.
“We’ve just had some throw-arounds basically so far, and like everyone else, they’ve got a lot to learn. They’re young kids, and they both have to learn a new system,” explained Morencie.
Less experience might make progress a bit slower for Harris, said Morencie.
“I think the learning curve is going to be a bit steeper for Corey, not having played that much football. Jason, being a quarterback – those guys tend to pick up the system a little quicker than everyone else. But you know, so far they’ve had good days and bad days like all young kids have,” he explained.
As far as playing time is concerned, Morencie thinks it’s still far too soon to make any judgments. “It’s very difficult to say. It’s good to speculate, but you’ve got to get them into camp, and you’ve got to get them competing against all the other kids,” said Morencie.
The situation for each player will be slightly different, if not only due to their positions, and the amount of players trying out for them.
“We’ve got a lot of quarterbacks coming into camp, we’ve got seven quarterbacks at camp in August so it’s going to be a bit of a shoot down, you know, a lot of kids competing for spots, competing for playing time,” said Morencie.
He went on to explain that a quarterback’s preparation and learning strategy is different than any other player’s, as he stressed the mental aspect of the game.
“The biggest thing Jason has to do right now is get himself as prepared mentally as he can, to get himself ready for camp and to handle the mental aspect – the toughest thing for quarterbacks,” explained Morencie.
Harris also has an edge over other players, as he lives in Windsor, and has thus been able to start practicing already. Come fall, then, his lower amount of experience will not be nearly as apparent.
This extra boost of experience will come in handy since there is also a large group of rookie receivers coming to camp.
“You know, he’s probably getting a leg up on others by being here during the summer,” said Morencie.
“Some of the young fellows who are out of town, or even some of our first-year veterans who have gone back home for the summer – Corey’s probably getting a leg up on them because he’s here and he’s learning the stuff during the summer,” he added.
Although Harris and Schneider are certainly different, their pasts and positions, along with their identical decorations, will make for an exciting match-up sometime in the near future.
“Again, you have to go to camp to figure how everything is going to get settled out. Once camp is done, we’re looking forward to seeing these two young guys do that,” said Morencie.
Training camp will be starting as soon as athletes begin to arrive from around the country, with the first game being on Labour Day weekend.
|
