Soddy-Daisy quarterback Scott Parrott was scheduled to meet E.K. Slaughter, his coach, Sunday afternoon to go over film from the Trojans’ 35-21 victory over Bradley Central.

He did so looking for his first passing grade of the season despite having completed 77.5 percent of his passes for 915 yards and 13 TDs.

“He’ll grade himself. He hasn’t had a passing grade yet, but I’m hard on him and he is hard on himself,” Slaughter said. “We grade on four things and average those out. If he grades out 70 percent or better it’s a passing grade. He usually grades out well on his mechanics and his reads, but he is still struggling a little on carrying out fakes.”

The 6-foot-3, 190-pound Parrott earned Times Free Press prep Player of the Week honors after completing 20 of 25 passes for 215 yards and five touchdowns.

“He’s the one who puts down his grade. It isn’t that I’m hard on him so much as he is hard on himself. That’s why he is going to be a good player,” Slaughter said.

Parrott overcame his first interception of the season, which came on his first pass attempt of the game, and now has thrown for at least 200 yards in each of the 3-1 Trojans’ four games.

Slaughter has been pleased from the first practice in which he saw Parrott last spring.

“He only had a couple of days of practice because of baseball, but he went out in the spring game and lit it up,” Slaughter said. “His footwork was horrific, but he looked pretty good on just raw ability.”

Parrott worked long hours in the summer to enhance his footwork and put himself ahead of the game in the first-year coach’s spread offense.

“People forget that Scott is a first-year starter in this offense,” Slaughter said. “I thought he’d be pretty good, but I didn’t think he’d be this good. He spent the month of July working on his footwork and his reads and when he put the pads on he already knew a lot because of that summer work.”

In putting together the 77.5 completion percentage, Parrott has connected on 62 of 80 passes.

“It’s more him than the scheme. I’d say 90 percent is him,” Slaughter said. “Honestly, if we don’t drop some balls — probably 10 or so — he’d be closer to 85 percent completion percentage. When you look at our receivers if they just walked by they wouldn’t strike fear into you but they’re making plays and getting yardage after the catch, which I wasn’t sure we could do. And the offensive line, we told them if they’d get him three seconds we would be OK, and that have done that for the most part. I think the offensive line has probably only given up four sacks.”

Parrott has also excelled at the intangibles, Slaughter said.

“He has managed the game really well, and he has been very consistent and that’s what you need. Even when he’s off, it isn’t by much,” the coach observed. “It is surprising to me how good he has been and the thing is that I knew he was going to be good. That said and knowing he has exceeded by expectations, there are things at which he can get better.”

Slaughter thinks that Parrott will be a college prospect because of his size and abilities and a 3.97 grade point average.

“He’ll be a prospect, but whether it’s major or mid-major depends on how much he improves in the off season. He is a student of the game, but the kid has never spent much time in a weight program and we want to work on his arm strength, although it is already pretty good,” Slaughter said. “But he is going to improve with more time in the offense, some time in the weight room and another year in this offense.”

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