It took Alonzo Russell longer than he expected to adjust to his new position. But since he has, it's changed the direction of East Ridge's football season.
Russell admitted he wasn't comfortable playing quarterback to begin the season, but he now is proving to be the dual threat his coaches believed he could become.
Last Friday Russell completed 12 of 15 passes for 313 yards and three touchdowns and ran nine times for 70 yards and three other scores. He also made nine tackles and intercepted a pass in leadings the Pioneers to a 49-34 Region 2-4A road win at Sequoyah.
Alonzo Russell (4) runs for the Pioneers. The East Ridge Pioneers hosted the Polk County Wildcats in TSSAA football action on August 14, 2018. That earned the 6-foot-2, 205-pound senior the BMW Performance of the Week.
"I'm more confident in what I'm doing at quarterback, and that has opened things up for our other guys, too," said Russell, who is being recruited by Austin Peay, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Kennesaw State and Tennessee State.
"Every week that we had lost our coaches would tell us it was about finding ourselves and gaining confidence. Our offensive line has made the biggest improvement and is now really the reason we're playing so much better. We've overcome some adversity, and our focus is through the roof now."
East Ridge's Alonzo Russell (4) is chased by Polk's Conner Barks (15). The East Ridge Pioneers hosted the Polk County Wildcats in TSSAA football action on August 14, 2018. The Pioneers lost two region games by three points earlier in the season and were 0-6 overall before things began to turn. With their season on the line and needing to win out in their remaining games to make the playoffs, the rally began with an upset over Central two weeks ago, followed by last week's win.
Against Central, Russell totaled 270 yards and accounted for all three TDs.
"As he goes, so do we," Pioneers coach Tim James said. "Alonzo had been pressing a little bit, trying to force it to make something good happen this season, but we were coming up on the short end. But the last couple of weeks he's just let the game come to him, gone with the flow, and it's starting to fall into place. We gained a lot of confidence from the Central win, and that carried over to last week.
"The line has been giving him time to throw and our receivers are making some catches that they didn't always make earlier in the season, and we're running the ball much better, so it's all adding up to executing on the field a lot better."
East Ridge - 2-2 in the region now - can secure the region's fourth playoff spot with a win at Howard on Friday and will close out the regular season against winless Hixson.
"If you're going to game-plan for us, he's the guy you have to find on offense and defense, because he's a playmaker," James added. "Alonzo is an athlete with above average size and physicality who can do a lot of things for us."
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.