When freshman quarterback Peyton Driskil showed up to his first high school football practice at the beginning of August, he was a little scared by the sheer size of everyone.
He's steadily getting over it with Dexter's jamboree against New Madrid Central and Kennett on Friday, but he's not quite there yet. Fortunately for him, he's so far avoided getting run over by senior defensive end Gabe Jackson.
Junior quarterback Jeremy Stearns hasn't been as lucky.
"It's not fun," Stearns said after Tuesday's practice where he got drilled by Jackson. "He hit me pretty hard."
Senior quarterback Ben Sindle agreed.
"You ever seen one of those videos of a train hitting a car? It's a train hitting a kid is what it is," Sindle said of Jackson, who is stronger, lighter and faster than he was last season. "It feels like if I would run into that pole over there. The pole doesn't move, I'm embarrassed, I'm on the ground. That's what it is like."
Sindle, Stearns and Driskil comprise the quarterback depth chart this season for the Bearcats.
Sindle returns as the starting quarterback and is finding comfort in a tweaked offense. Dexter head coach Kevin Goltra will have the team running a more up-tempo offense featuring lots of shotgun and pistol formations.
"We made some Xs and Os changes to try and make him more comfortable. He is every bit of 5-foot, 9-inches and was right behind an offensive line full of sophomores and one freshman," Goltra said of Sindle. "Ben has always had that X-factor. He's a coach on the field, he gets kids lined up right, he knows every single play. He's a rah, rah, guy. I love Ben."
Sindle faced consistent pressure last season behind that young offensive line and had trouble finding enough time to make his reads.
"It shook your confidence a lot," Sindle said of the pressure. "I'm not the tallest, already being 5 yards back, I can see everything better."
Added Goltra, "He loves to throw the hitches out of trips. He makes great reads there. He loves to throw the flood routes."
In his second year as the starting quarterback, Sindle is also making more complicated reads than last year. He, as well as Stearns, say they've come a long way since struggling during summer 7-on-7 drills when facing two safeties.
"If you have one (safety), you can move that safety with your eyes and hit the open man. But if you have two ... you can't move them to the other side of the field," Sindle said.
While Sindle was coy about whether the offense would pass a lot more this season, he admitted that his arm is sometimes sore after practice because of all the throwing reps.
Goltra added that Sindle has added about 20 pounds of muscle since last year and doesn't have to look over his shoulder on the depth chart this season.
Stearns, who will be the starting junior varsity quarterback, is returning to football for the first time since seventh grade.
Back then, Stearns was one of the big kids and the coaches made him a lineman. He didn't like the position, didn't like football, so he didn't play after that.
"It was just boring to me. I got so bored every practice and every game, you just stand up and push somebody. It wasn't fun," Stearns said. "I didn't play because I was still bigger then, still kind of fat and I knew I'd be a lineman. I lost most of my fat now, so I tried out for quarterback."
He's having more fun as a quarterback, but admits he's got a lot to learn. Goltra likened it to a foreign exchange student who doesn't speak English coming to Dexter and trying to do well in the classroom while learning the language at the same time.
Stearns does have the physical tools to play the position, though.
"Practice today, he threw the best ball I've seen in eight or nine years," Goltra said of a 10-yard out route. "There might be some situations where we play him on Friday night just to carry the ball a little bit."
Driskil started at quarterback in middle school and is enjoying the experience of being a part of a larger squad. He's steadily picking up the larger playbook, as well.
"They were hard," Driskil said of the first few practices of the season after not joining the team in the beginning of the summer with some of the other eighth graders. "I didn't know any of the plays and everyone knew all of them, so I was asking a bunch of questions on what to do."
Added Goltra, "He's just a kid who has good composure and he is going to do fine. We are real lucky to have him.
"With those three, we feel like we've got the future ahead of us as well."
Dexter plays in a preseason jamboree against Kennett and New Madrid Central at 6 p.m. Friday in Kennett.