Honorable mention
› Devin Lancaster, Ringgold: He completed 16 of 27 passes for 323 yards and four touchdowns.› Cooper Hodge, Boyd-Buchanan: He gained 136 yards on 14 carries, scoring three touchdowns, and added nine tackles, with two for lost yardage.› Isaiah Foster, Chattooga: He rushed for 193 yards on 25 carries and scored three touchdowns.Coaches and/or statisticians are invited to nominate players by emailing Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com by 2 p.m. each Saturday.
Of Northwest Whitfield’s 12 first downs in Friday’s Region 7-4A win over Ridgeland, Luke Shiflett accounted for 10 of them with his arm or his feet.
The sophomore quarterback completed 14 of 17 passes (82 percent) for 164 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He added 10 rushing attempts (including a touchdown run) for another 153 yards – boosting his total offense to 317 yards – and punted twice for a 46.5-yard average.
“That was a big game for us last night and a big stage for him,” Bruins coach Josh Robinson said. “He does a little bit of everything for us.”
Shiflett’s efforts in the 43-29 home win were enough to nail down Waffle House All-Star player of the week honors from the Times Free Press sports staff.
As a freshman, Shiflett played wide receiver while occasionally spelling his elder brother, Caleb, at quarterback. Robinson specifically remembered the younger Shiflett making a touchdown catch in the regular season finale against Southeast Whitfield that allowed Northwest to force a mini playoff with Southeast and Heritage for the region’s No. 4 berth in the state playoffs.
The 6-foot-1 1/2, 165-pound Shiflett is a versatile athlete.
“He made the all-region basketball team as a freshman and led the team in rebounds while playing the point, the two guard, power forward and strong forward,” Robinson said. “And he’d probably be the best player on the baseball team, but he decided he wanted to devote more time to football.”
While Robinson tried to convince Shiflett to stick with baseball as well, he has to like having his quarterback around for spring practice and in the weight room.
“He’s just a sophomore, which is a great thing. You know, every coach has that dream scenario where he wishes he had that certain type of kid. Well, Luke is that type of kid,” Robinson said Saturday while celebrating his birthday with his wife in Atlanta.
Northwest was without Shiflett a couple of weeks earlier this season.
“We thought he had a broken collarbone, that we’d lost him for the year,” Robinson recalled. “It was a sprained shoulder, and he came back a week earlier than what everybody thought he would. He went out with zero reps and his first pass back was for a touchdown.”
For all his athletic ability, though, football is evidently as much mental as physical for Shiflett.
“We knew early on that he was a good player and had a high football IQ,” Robinson said. “We knew that down the road – experience is worth a million dollars – that he could be special. We thought that he’d get there by his junior year. But we didn’t know then that he’d already be making the type of decisions he’s been making this early in his career.”
Northwest coaches allow Shiflett to call the protections on every play, and he’s responsible for putting teammates in motion.
“You can’t block everybody, but he knows where the gap – that one unblocked man – is supposed to be, and he hasn’t given up a sack that he’s had a chance to avoid,” Robinson added. “He’s got a good arm – throws a sideline fade as well as any kid I’ve coached or seen – and his football IQ is very high.
“When you watch him run, you think ‘typical good athlete’ and wonder if he’s running as hard as he can, but he’s blowing by everybody. He’s shifty. I call guys like that ‘jukers’ and ‘jivers.’ He sees pad levels and knows when to cut back or run around somebody.”
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765.