It's his huddle now

After a long wait, Copley takes over as Wood QB

August 25, 2010

By David Selig
The Winchester Star       

WINCHESTER- Matt Copley was giving an interview outside the James Wood football team house following a recent practice when one of the Colonels' assistant coaches came screeching by on a utility vehicle.

"You know that's Matt Copley, right?" the coach deadpanned to the reporter. "Are you sure you've got the right guy? You want to talk to him?"

Yep, after three years of waiting, Copley is finally James Wood's starting quarterback. And he's the new voice of an offense that has a significantly different look from last year.

Nobody will ever confuse the 5-foot-10 Copley, who has become known for his ability to scramble, with the 6-foot-4 rifle-armed Trae Tinsman, who stood under center at Wood for the past three seasons.

But if there were ever any doubts that Copley could take command of the team like Tinsman had, the previously quiet player hushed them from the minute he took the field this summer.

"From the first day of minicamp, he stepped in that huddle and you could tell that it was his huddle," Wood coach Mike Bolin said. "He let it be known at that time that he was in charge, and the rest of the players have responded well."

They should, because Copley is far from a newcomer - and the senior has proven time and again his commitment to the Colonels.

While serving as the backup quarterback the past two seasons, Copley also worked his way onto the field as a wide receiver and defensive back.

And even though he deep down would have preferred stealing Tinsman's job, he ultimately became Tinsman's favorite receiver, making a team-high 25 receptions for 256 yards and three touchdowns last fall. "Coming into high school, I knew Trae was a great quarterback just from playing against him in middle school, so I knew I was going to have to wait my turn," Copley said. "It was tough [moving to receiver]. Usually it's good to work on one position and see how good you can get at that one. But I did whatever I could to help my team win, and receiver was it last year."

Copley - who was voted second-team All-Northwestern District as a receiver - admits that he actually misses playing the position a little bit, but that experience should help him this season.

He knows the routes his receivers are running, and after winning a starting role on defense for the second half of last season, he also knows what's circling through the cornerbacks' minds as they line up in coverage.

(Copley is still taking some reps on defense in practice, and while the coaches would rather him focus mostly on quarterback, Bolin said he could see some time at corner in key situations.)

Despite playing other positions in almost all his varsity action, Copley has also taken his share of snaps under center since starting to play quarterback as a seventh grader at Admiral Byrd Middle School.

He quarterbacked the Colonels' junior varsity team as a sophomore, and his father, Kevin, used to be the quarterbacks coach at Shenandoah University, so he's been getting plenty of tutelage along the way.

But Copley makes it clear that he won't try to be the next Tinsman, who passed for an area-best 1,249 yards last season and is now playing at Shepherd University.

With a deep group of running backs behind him, Copley wants to control the offense, make the key throw when needed, and use his quickness any time he doesn't see an open receiver.

"Matt's arm's not nearly as strong as Trae's, but he'll take off and go," Bolin said, noting that Copley made a few key runs in the team's first scrimmage against Park View. "If it's not there, Matt's going to tuck it and run."

Being familiar with what it takes to physically play the position, Copley's biggest adjustment has been adapting to everything else that comes with being the quarterback.

He's learned some of that from just watching the way Tinsman carried himself through the years, and as a freshman on the varsity baseball team he became particularly impressed with the leadership of star senior Josh Dick.

"They showed me that you need to be a leader on and off the field," Copley said. "[Josh] showed me that you can't keep your head down, because later in the game you might have a chance to step up and do your part. You might get to pick yourself back up."

Copley never struggled to find his way onto the baseball diamond, where he's become a standout pitcher and shortstop over the past three years.

That might not mean much when he's wearing pads on a chilly Friday night in the fall, but, as Bolin said, "he's used to being in the spotlight."

It's a position where Copley has always wanted to be - even though he never spoke up to complain about it.

"I've always known Matt's goal was to be our starting quarterback," Bolin said. "And I honestly think Matt would have started for a lot of the teams we played [against] last year. But, Matt's a team guy, and Matt understood the situation he was in. And he put himself in a position to help us by being a hard worker and a good teammate. ...

"Hell, if he were a little bigger, he'd probably play guard. He's just a team guy."

Of course, if Copley were playing on the offensive line - which he actually did some in youth football - he might not be the one doing that interview after practice.

But those days are over and, like it or not, Copley is going to have plenty of attention on his every move when the Colonels open at home against Washington (W.Va.) Sept. 3.

"It definitely did hit me once we started the first day of camp," Copley said. "It just hit me that it's my senior year, and I don't want to go out as a loser. I want to try to get a district title, and with my teammates, I think we have a good chance of it."

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