By Terry Boehmker
NKy Tribune sports reporter
When Tanner Morgan transferred to Ryle High School last December, Aaron O’Hara was excited to be reunited with his long-time friend. They had played peewee football together when they were younger and now they would be teammates once again in high school.
The fact that Morgan and O’Hara will be competing against each other for the starting quarterback position at Ryle hasn’t put a strain on their friendship. They’re looking forward to pushing each other during pre-season practice to see who earns the job as the Raiders’ offensive leader.
“We work well together,” O’Hara said. “Whatever happens, the other one will be right there by his side helping him (during the season) and be able to step in if he needs to.”
Morgan already has two years of varsity experience. He played quarterback for the Hazard High School football team the last two seasons and put up some very impressive statistics. As a freshman, he completed 135 of 203 passes for 2,346 yards and 25 touchdowns. Last season, he was 148-of-247 for 2,536 yards and 31 TDs.
The 6-foot-2, 205-pound junior said he has already received scholarship offers from Louisville, Wake Forest and Cincinnati. Several other major college coaches watched Morgan work out during the spring evaluation period. He has also been contacted by Kentucky, Tennessee, Duke, Michigan State and Baylor, with more expected to join that impressive list.
But Morgan isn’t taking anything for granted because of his past success. He’s well aware that he still has to earn the starting quarterback position at Ryle.
“I’ve got two years (or varsity competition) under my belt, but it doesn’t matter what happened in the past, it’s about what happens now,” he said.
Morgan said his family moved to Hazard two years ago to help care for one of his grandfathers who lives there. His mother actually returned to Boone County last summer when she got a teaching job at Mann Elementary School, but he stayed at Hazard to finish his sophomore season on the football team. Morgan transferred to Ryle in December and school officials did the paperwork that was required for him to be eligible to play for the Raiders.
O’Hara was the backup quarterback for Ryle last season. He played in all 12 varsity games, but he only completed five of 12 passses for 158 yards and two touchdowns. He also worked out for college recruiters this spring and drew some interest from Murray State and Eastern Kentucky. The Ryle coaching staff planned to groom O’Hara’s talents even more as the team’s starting quarterback this season before Morgan stepped into the picture.
“It’s been good for both of them,” Ryle head coach Mike Engler said of the quarterback competition during 7-on-7 passing drills this month. “Aaron has definitely improved and upped his game just by Tanner being here. Our numbers are pretty good this year so we divide them into teams and have two pretty good 7-on-7 matchups going at each other. We had that competition through June and it’s already made us a better football team.”
Coach Engler said Morgan is a masterful drop-back quarterback when you give him the pass protection he needs. O’Hara, on the other hand, has a talent for extending plays with his athletic ability until he can find an open receiver or run the ball. When practice drills resume in early July after the state-mandated dead period, the Ryle coaching staff will work on ways to put each quarterback’s style of play to good use this season.
“I coached five Division I (college recruited) quarterbacks when I was at Lexington Catholic and I would rank both of our quarterbacks as good as any of those at their age,” Engler said. “I don’t know what our game plan is going to be yet, it’s way too early. But I will say this: they both need to be on the field somewhere for us.”
Morgan and O’Hara seem to be willing to do whatever it takes for Ryle to have a successful 2015 season. The Raiders’ final records the last three years were 5-7, 2-9 and 3-8. Last year, Ryle was eliminated in the second round of the Class 6A playoffs and the previous two teams lost in the opening round.
“We’re ready and we’re confident,” Morgan said of the Raiders’ upcoming season. “I’d say we just need to keep working on our plays to where we’re a well-oiled machine and not making many mistakes at all. We’ll be hard to stop if we get to that point.”