New Salem quarterback looks to a lot of people like a certain former NFL QB as he impresses in first scrimmage
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
PENNSVILLE – It is no coincidence new Salem quarterback Desmund Thomas wears No. 7.
See the way he looks in the uniform and carries himself on the field. Watch the way he escapes the rush and eventually makes something happen. Look at the sidewinder way he slings the ball downfield. Follow him as he takes off to run.
If he doesn’t remind you of former Virginia Tech, Falcons and Eagles quarterback Michael Vick you haven’t been watching football very long.
Like he hasn’t heard that before.
“They call me ‘Baby Vick’ sometimes,” the junior said. “At first I didn’t even see it. But when people see I can actually throw and they see I can actually run that’s when that comparison came up.”
Thomas has never met Vick or seen him play live, but knows all about him even though he was born the year before Vick joined the Eagles. “I watched his whole documentary,” he said. Of all the Vick versions out there, he likes the Philly Vick the best.
He’ll tell you, though, his choice of jersey number has nothing to do with any comparison to the current Norfolk State head coach.
“It’s me, it’s just me,” he said. “I want to be the best of me.”
By all accounts he was pretty good Monday against Pennsville in his first padded action against outside competition since transferring to Salem from Georgia,
He directed the Rams to four touchdowns in their eight goal-line plays after Robbie McDade led the Eagles to three in their first four plays. Then he directed a five-play, 65-yard touchdown drive to start their 10-and-10 and lofted a touchdown pass to 6-2 KaiSiere Muhammad on the final play of the varsity portion of the exercise.
Altogether he was 12-of-17 for 137 yards and three touchdowns passing (and had another 6-yard TD pass nullified by a penalty) and rushed for 48 yards and two goal-line scores. One of his completions was a spectacular 45-yarder that Quimere Bergen laid all the way out for and one of his incompletions was a ball he eventually threw away after a long Vick-like run to escape Pennsville pursuit. His longest run went for 40 yards.
He looked a lot like he did while putting up some big numbers for Mt. Zion in Jonesboro, Ga., the last two years.
“I feel better since I’ve been here,” he said. “I feel more elusive in the pocket, I’m able to move around, trust my teammates when I’m on the run, extend the play, things like that. I’m glad to be here.”
“I was really impressed with him, and it wasn’t just his ability to scramble, it was his ability to keep his eyes downfield and still keep looking, trying to find the open player,” Pennsville coach Mike Healy said. “He’s a big handful, that’s for sure. He did a lot of good stuff.”
Despite all the good things Thomas did in the scrimmage, he still had some missteps Rams coach Kemp Carr said need to be corrected before he can become the truly great quarterback he believes he can be.
“I’m looking for him to be a complete player,” Carr said. “The sky’s the limit, but I need him to hit every phase and he missed two phases today. He showed he can do a lot of good things, but we’ve got hit the phases when we need to hit the phases.
“The game is about levels. We want every level to fill and he missed some levels today. But he did a good job being able to scamper and play off-schedule, which is good.”
Even Michael Vick wasn’t built in a day.
NOTES: Thomas threw his other touchdown passes to Antwuan Rogers and Jovanni Rios, a transfer from Pennsville. Rios caught three more passes and had a 14-yard run against his former team after they threw him for a 7-yard loss the first time he touched the ball … The three touchdowns Pennsville scored in the goal-line drill were the only ones they scored in the scrimmage. Their goal in the workout was to get a lot of players on film against outside competition and they achieved that with liberal substitutions … The Rams have added a Week Zero game to the schedule. They will open their season at home against Pleasantville Aug. 29 at 3:30 p.m.
Schalick: QBs battle on
FRANKLINVILLE – The objective of Schalick’s first scrimmage of camp was to get some separation between its two quarterback candidates, but after a couple 10-and-10s at Delsea Monday morning the battle still rages.
Gary Simonini and Kenny Bartee got 10 plays each in the exercise to show what they could do in the option and the result was about a draw.
“I don’t think either one of them necessarily separated,” Cougars coach Kevin Leamy said. “They both showed signs and did things very well (and) they both showed me things they need to improve on.
“I think if we had to play a game tomorrow I think I would be comfortable playing both of them in a game. Neither one of them did bad, but as of right now I plan on using both of them because neither is necessarily separating above the other.”
Simonini, a junior, drew the opening assignment and had a somewhat balky start, but bounced back and accounted for 28 yards of net offense. Bartee, a sophomore, ran the final five plays of each set and accounted for 21 net yards. Both had a keeper in the option that went for more than 10 yards.
“I feel like I didn’t accomplish what I really wanted to,” Bartee said. “I wanted to show them who I was, but with the little drives I did have I think I did fine.”
“You always want to be better at everything I do,” Simonini said. “At the end of the day we’re both capable of playing this position. We both are good football players. At the end of the day we’re just out here to have fun playing a kids game.”
They’ll get another chance to show out in a more game-like scrimmage Friday against Buena. Leamy wasn’t sure after Monday’s exercise if he’d split the work series by series or quarter by quarter in the scheduled half of game action.
Then, too, he wouldn’t be opposed to playing two quarterbacks. He told both of them he wanted both to play in the opener against Somerville.
“I’ve watched a lot of Navy offenses that used two quarterbacks and did well,” Leamy said. “It’s not like it’s never been done before.”
As for the scrimmage overall, Leamy said, the Cougars did a “very good” job and “accomplished what we wanted to.”
The best play of the scrimmage was Simonini’s toss to David Stewart that opened their second 10-and-10 and went for 16 yards. The worst play was final play of their first defensive set when Delsea completed a play-action pass to a running back from midfield that went for the day’s only touchdown.
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