Over the summer Rockbridge County's Porter Abell, the son of Washington and Lee head coach Scott Abell, committed to play college ball at the University of Richmond, where Danny Rocco now coaches the Spiders after six years with Liberty.
Rocco plans to use Abell the same way he used former Flame Mike Brown, who is now in the NFL. First as a playmaking receiver, then as a game-breaking quarterback.
With that in mind his future coaches had to love what the quarterback showed on an emotional night in Lexington.
Porter Abell says he never had a game like last Friday. Racking up six total touchdowns in Rockbridge County's opening night blowout of Parry McCluer.
Porter Abell, "I put it on the offensive line because just watching film the next day, they completely dominated."
Abell took over the starting quarterback duties for the Wildcats late in his sophomore season. Now a senior, he has complete control of Rockbridge's read-zone attack. Against the Fighting Blues he rushed for a 155 yards and five scores, and added 132 yards and another touchdown through the air.
Jason White, "He's got very good athleticism. Agility, speed, you know he's actually gotten a lot faster from last year and that's hard to believe because he was pretty daggone fast last year. He's tough. He's physical. He'll lower the shoulder when he needs to. He's got the speed to get around you if he needs to so he's got a lot of physical tools that we really try hard to build our offense around."
Of course last Friday in Lexington was about much more than football. Before the game the school honored the late Chase Prasnicki, the Army First Lieutenant killed in combat in Afghanistan, by retiring the former quarterback's jersey.
Abell, "Coach White always tells me how great of a player Chase was and how much of a role model he was."
White, "He would come back after school. He would be in the weight room and he would turn around and it'd be 25 degrees outside and he's got 3 or 4 kids making them stay after workouts to run routes so he could throw the football."
Once the game began, Abell actually broke Prasnicki's school record for career rushing yards by a quarterback. We spoke to Abell and Coach White in the same locker room where Prasnicki was interviewed for his Player of the Week feature in 2004.
Abell, "It's an honor, you know, to break his record because of who he is."
White, "They remind me a lot of each other so I think it's a huge honor to Chase and his family that a young man with such integrity and hard work and leadership, much like Chase, was able to break the record."
White says Abell and Prasnicki share the same joy for the game, physical abilities and character to lead a program.
White, "It's sad to say I find myself talking more about Chase now that he's deceased and that's sad that human nature is the way it is but if I have anything to do about it, we'll be talking about Chase for a long time around here."
And if Porter Abell keeps having nights like last Friday, they'll be talking about him for quite a while as well.
Rocco plans to use Abell the same way he used former Flame Mike Brown, who is now in the NFL. First as a playmaking receiver, then as a game-breaking quarterback.
With that in mind his future coaches had to love what the quarterback showed on an emotional night in Lexington.
Porter Abell says he never had a game like last Friday. Racking up six total touchdowns in Rockbridge County's opening night blowout of Parry McCluer.
Porter Abell, "I put it on the offensive line because just watching film the next day, they completely dominated."
Abell took over the starting quarterback duties for the Wildcats late in his sophomore season. Now a senior, he has complete control of Rockbridge's read-zone attack. Against the Fighting Blues he rushed for a 155 yards and five scores, and added 132 yards and another touchdown through the air.
Jason White, "He's got very good athleticism. Agility, speed, you know he's actually gotten a lot faster from last year and that's hard to believe because he was pretty daggone fast last year. He's tough. He's physical. He'll lower the shoulder when he needs to. He's got the speed to get around you if he needs to so he's got a lot of physical tools that we really try hard to build our offense around."
Of course last Friday in Lexington was about much more than football. Before the game the school honored the late Chase Prasnicki, the Army First Lieutenant killed in combat in Afghanistan, by retiring the former quarterback's jersey.
Abell, "Coach White always tells me how great of a player Chase was and how much of a role model he was."
White, "He would come back after school. He would be in the weight room and he would turn around and it'd be 25 degrees outside and he's got 3 or 4 kids making them stay after workouts to run routes so he could throw the football."
Once the game began, Abell actually broke Prasnicki's school record for career rushing yards by a quarterback. We spoke to Abell and Coach White in the same locker room where Prasnicki was interviewed for his Player of the Week feature in 2004.
Abell, "It's an honor, you know, to break his record because of who he is."
White, "They remind me a lot of each other so I think it's a huge honor to Chase and his family that a young man with such integrity and hard work and leadership, much like Chase, was able to break the record."
White says Abell and Prasnicki share the same joy for the game, physical abilities and character to lead a program.
White, "It's sad to say I find myself talking more about Chase now that he's deceased and that's sad that human nature is the way it is but if I have anything to do about it, we'll be talking about Chase for a long time around here."
And if Porter Abell keeps having nights like last Friday, they'll be talking about him for quite a while as well.
