INSIDE THE NUMBERS
* Arkansas Single-Season Records
Most TD passes: 77, Thomas Thrash (Pulaski Academy), 2001
Passing yards: 5,272, Thrash, 2001
Average passing yards per game: 405.5, Thrash, 2001
Completions: 371, Spencer Keith (Pulaski Academy), 2007
* Spencer Keith’s 2008 totals (11 games, likely 3 to go)
TD passes: 59
Passing yards: 4,258
Yards per game: 387.1
Completions: 311
By Mitch Stephens
MaxPreps.com
Spencer Keith’s name sits proudly at the top of the national passing leader chart but his face deserves the cover of a Wheaties Box.
At least that’s the way Pulaski Academy (Little Rock, Ark.) coach Kevin Kelley sees it and considering Keith’s All-American Kid persona who could blame him.
Sure, Keith, a 6-foot-2, 180-pound senior, is on the verge of breaking numerous state record while completing 311 of 494 passes for 4,258 yards and – get this – 59 touchdowns.
Yes, he directs the nation’s most prolific spread offense, averaging a ridiculous 575.5 yards per game — more than 100 yards better than No. 2 Malvern (Ohio) at 449.5.
He’s also a basketball standout, a tremendously savvy point guard with a great outside shot.
But his most impressive numbers may come in the classroom, which seems hard to fathom his lofty football digits, with a 4.3 grade point average and 30 on his ACT.
All the Ivy League schools are after him.
“He’s just a tremendous kid,” Kelley said. “He’s a tremendous leader in the school and on the team. He’s extremely bright and just happens to be a great athlete. He’s almost the poster boy everyone wants to be like.”
Keith wants to be like the quarterback before him — Texas Tech backup Stefan Loucks, who wanted to be like the quarterback before him. Thomas Thrash.
Thrash owns the state single-season yardage record with 5,272 and Louks is third at 5,076. Last year Keith, in his first season at the helm, moved into the state No. 4 All-Time spot at 4,768 and 51 touchdowns. He also set state marks in both completions (371) and attempts (623).
But the Bruins lost in the state 5A quarterfinals and with nine starters back on offense, including Division I prospect D.J. Daniel (1,398 yards rushing, 21 TDs and 68 catches, 900 yards, 13 touchdowns) and a pair of outstanding wide receivers Carson McKnight (105-1,593-15) and Neal Barlow (73-1,199-18), Pulaski Academy (10-1) figures to cruise right into the state title game.
There it will likely face the top-ranked 5A team Helena West in the state finals. According to Kelley, Helena West has eight Division I athletes.
Keith has had Division I interest but because of a torn ACL endured in February during the basketball season he was pushed back somewhat.
“It normally takes seven to nine months to rehab but he was cleared to play in five,” Kelley said. “He worked hard to get back before the season started and he did.”
As good as Kelley’s spread system is and the system around him, Keith makes it all work. “He turns awful plays into decent plays and decent plays into great plays,” Kelley said.
His productivity has been off the charts. Consider what he’s done this season:
* Thrown for at least 300 yards in 10 of 11 games.
* The one game below, he threw a season-low 22 passes (16 completions) for 262 yards and six touchdowns in 49-14 win over Hot Springs. It was his highest quarterback rating of the year (150).
* Thrown for five or more touchdowns eight times.
* Thrown for more than 400 yards five times with a high of 474 yards and seven touchdowns (no interceptions) in a 56-42 win over Hope.
"He's a special kid and a special athlete," Kelley said. "We're lucky to have him."
STUBBORN SANTA TERESA: With nine starters returning from last year’s defense, Santa Teresa (San Jose, Calif.) coach Nick Alfano knew his squad wouldn’t squander much. But 32 points? For an entire season?
The Saints started the season with three straight shutouts and recorded three in a row before Independence scored a season-high 13 points last week in a 20-13 Santa Teresa win. The Saints (10-0) enter Saturday’s Central Coast Section Large School Division as the third seed and they host No. 6 Wilcox (6-4).
“We just have the right combination of guys,” he said. “We got a couple guys with size, a couple real quick guys and a couple more who really know what they’re doing. It’s a very instinctual bunch.”
They are led by two of the state’s leading tacklers in linebackers Johnny Taylor (5-11, 185, 157 tackles) and Mark Borland (6-foot, 195, 137 tackles), but their best player might be defensive end Omar Al-helew, a 6-1, 185-pound senior who has 77 tackles, 10½ sacks and 51 tackles for loss.
ZACH ATTACK: As a follow-up to last week’s featured back, the nation’s leading rusher Zach Barket, a senior at Schuylkill Haven (Pa.), his team moved into the state semifinals with a 43-7 win over Williams Valley on Saturday.
Barket rushed 26 times for 285 yards and five touchdowns giving him, according to Mike White of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, a state record 56 touchdowns, breaking the mark of 53 set by Parkland’s Austin Scott in 2002.
With a nation-best 3,543 yards rushing, Barket is within 310 of the state single-season mark of 3,853 set by Scott in 2002.
See how these statistical stars stack up with the NFL’s best – Nike Head2Head
Inside the Numbers is a weekly feature personalizing the athletes who and teams that sit at or near the top of our leaderboards. If one of our leaders has an interesting story, please e-mail Mitch Stephens at mstephens@maxpreps.com.
