Jackson County juggling trio at quarterback position

JEFFERSON - It might not be perfect, but Jackson County coach Billy Kirk has gone to the Cerberus approach to quarterbacking - three heads are better than one.

Kirk might send any of three quarterbacks onto the field - Kyle Daniel, Jalen Banks and Tony Holton - but he'll bring a quick hook if one starts to struggle.

"It's not the ideal situation," Kirk said. "But I don't want to see a kid struggle. It's like in baseball when you have a pitcher that's struggling, there's no sense in continuing to watch him struggle. We make a pretty quick change."

Daniel started the first four games with Banks coming off the bench.

Holton, a senior transfer from Winder-Barrow, has started the last two games.

"It's exciting. It's something different because we all bring something different to the table," Banks said. "Kyle is more of a dropback passer. Tony's got more of the running style. I'm just kind of there."

Jackson County (3-3, 1-3 Region 8-AA South) hosts first-place North Oconee (5-0, 2-0) at 7:30 p.m. today at Panther Stadium.

"Depending on the opponent and depending on what the team needs, we can all play," Daniel said. "It's nice to play. I'd rather be a quarterback, but if I have to play receiver to get on the field, I'll do that, too."

Jackson County runs a pass-first spread, so whenever the quarterbacks aren't behind center, they're split wide as receivers. Kirk will also place a couple of his quarterbacks side-by-side in the shotgun to confuse defenses.

"It's interesting," Holton said. "We can really mix up the opposing defense. One week they might anticipate going against one quarterback and then when we come out, we've got another one. They really don't know how to prepare for us."

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