By CAYDEN SANDERS
Tiger Media Network
The quarterback room is complete for the Fort Hays State University football team, with three players – Jack Dawson, Caleb Heavner and Ethan Forrester – set to be the leaders of the offense this season.
Quarterbacks coach Austin Zoda is pleased with the competition the quarterbacks bring to the position.
“For me, it makes my job hard when I have three competitors that could be on the field and excel well if we needed them to play,” Zoda said.
Zoda said the quarterbacks love working together and want the best for each other.
“It’s not every day you see a quarterback room that wants to improve not just themselves, but pushes others,” Zoda said. “Over the offseason, we had all three returners coming in, working out, working on the field … . As a coaching staff, we are happy we have that type of hard work in our quarterbacks.”
The Tigers return Dawson and Forrester. Both saw time on the field last season.
Dawson played in 10 games, with nine being starts. In his redshirt freshman season, the Tiger completed 144 of 234 passing attempts for 61.5 percent. He threw for more than 1,700 yards and 13 touchdowns, averaging 172.2 yards a game.
In the home finale, Dawson had a career-high 22 completions for 247 yards.
In the 10 games Dawson competed in, he had 200 passing yards in six games, with at least one touchdown in every game but one.
“Last season, Chance (Fuller) got hurt, and I came in and did the best I could,” Dawson said. “But last season did not go how we wanted it to, and so we have been focusing on working on a younger culture and having a team of our own this year.”
Last season, Forrester completed 43 of 61 passes with a 70.5% completion percentage. During the season, he threw for 372 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for 148 yards and two scores. Forrester averaged 5.3 yards per rush, with 8.7 yards per pass completion.
In the season finale against the fifth-best team in the nation, Pitt State, Forrester had a career-high 15 completions and 142 passing yards – and 50 rushing yards.
“I wanted to work on this offseason throwing deep balls and watching more film from last season,” Forrester said. “The first part of the season is going to be exciting. You get no off games. You go from Northeastern State to the top powers in Pitt State and Northwest, and I am excited about it.”
This season, there will be a newcomer to the room with Heavner. Last season, he was placed on a redshirt year. But in high school, Heavner led Denison (Texas) High School with 4,234 yards passing – a school record – and 1,000 rushing yards and 53 touchdowns. Heavner also picked up the school’s leading passer, two-time all-district selection along with Texasland Player of the Year and received Elite 11 and Under Armour All-America region invites.
This season, Heavner is expected to be the backup behind Dawson.
“Last season, I came into a perfect quarterback room. Every guy was good, and it helped shape me for this season,” Heavner said
The Tigers open the 2023 season with a 6 p.m. road game Thursday at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Okla.