Talent 'Keeps a Team Guessing'

There are times when Forestville wide receiver Kevin Dorsey lines up in the slot and times when he lines up far to the outside. Other times, the Maryland recruit might be at tight end or in the backfield. Knights Coach Charles Harley said there will come a time this season when Dorsey goes under center to take the snap.

"It keeps a team guessing," Harley said. "One week, he's a wide receiver. Next week, he's the quarterback. How do you game plan for a guy like that?"

Moving Dorsey around is all in the name of getting the ball to a team's best player -- and it's something that a few teams around the Washington area are doing.

At Kennedy, All-Met Melvin Harris played mostly wide receiver in the season opener before playing mostly at quarterback the past two games. Meantime, at Edison, late in the preseason Coach Vaughn Lewis took his standout senior wide receiver, Ben Barber, and made him the team's quarterback, figuring that was the best way to help his team's offense.

"I was kind of hesitant and surprised," said Barber, who had not played quarterback since his freshman year. "I had gotten used to playing wide receiver. And I didn't want to move. But Coach Lewis said he needed me at that position. Anything to help the team out, I was willing to do."

Just like other coaches who change their play-calling to utilize multi-dimensional threats, Lewis said he adapted his offensive philosophy so that Barber could run more often. The Eagles' playbook already included quarterback draws and counters and the option, but those plays had not been called often the past two seasons as the team preferred to throw the ball. So far, in Edison's 3-1 start, Barber has passed for 346 yards and four touchdowns while rushing for 227 yards and four more scores.

"He still has a lot to learn, but he has a nice arm and he's been able to run the option for us really well," Lewis said. "He does a lot of good things for us."

Harris knew the quarterback position from last season, when he passed for 2,275 yards and 29 touchdowns. After Kennedy lost its opener, Harris has played mainly at quarterback, including a 35-34 overtime loss to Paint Branch this past Thursday in which he threw four touchdown passes and rushed for his team's other score.

"The only thing is, when we move him out of quarterback, he's attracting so much attention that he's not doing much," Kennedy Coach Gunnard Twyner said. "But everybody else is."