The evolution of the quarterback position has seen the shift from the traditional pocket passer to the dual threat athlete. The reasons could be that offenses want to run a spread offense or a run and gun offense to the fact that a quarterback who can both run and throw will cause more matchup problems for opposing defenses. Philadelphia Eagle Michael Vick's resurrection was based on both his arm and legs as he led all quarterbacks in rushing this past year. Green Bay Packer Aaron Rodgers is most well known for his passing arm. However, he was the third leading quarterback rusher this past year.
These empirical examples in the past NFL season exemplify how the quarterback is now expected to be a playmaker both with their throwing arm and their running legs. For the Bellarmine Bells, they go into next season with such a dual threat quarterback in Travis McHugh. McHugh had 40 completions in 80 attempts for 719 yards with 6 touchdowns and no interceptions while he ran 124 times for 555 yards and 8 touchdowns in a 9-3 season that ended in a playoff loss to Palo Alto.
At 6-foot-3 and 200 pounds, McHugh can run 4.67 seconds in the 40-yard dash, has a shuttle time of 4.17 seconds, squat 290 pounds, has a vertical of 29 inches, and a long throw of 56 yards. As a junior, he earned First Team All League WCAL and Offensive MVP.
McHugh compares his game to former Florida Gator Tim Tebow because he has that dual threat capability. Bellarmine runs an option offense that does not throw the ball excessively. McHugh became a varsity starter during his junior year as he first started playing football at seven years old.
During the offseason, McHugh works on his quarterback mechanics and speed training. In addition, he spends his own time with his quarterback coach, Tom Martinez. Martinez, who works with many of the WCAL quarterbacks, has been a personal quarterback coach with McHugh for over two years. Martinez also was Tom Brady's personal quarterback coach during Brady's Serra High years.
Martinez says, "Travis reminds me of Tom. Like Tom, Travis will obtain information and be hard at work in mastering it. Travis is everything a coach would want in a quarterback. He is intelligent, committed, and works very hard."
McHugh currently has no serious contact with any colleges. He is interested in Division I programs and is not limited by geography. McHugh has a 4.17 GPA while his best subject is physics. He wants to major in computer science, business/economics, or medicine.
Coach Martinez made the point that some high school quarterbacks play in systems that allow the quarterback to put up gaudy numbers but the quarterback is just a gunslinger with poor fundamentals or mechanics to be built upon on the college level. Martinez pointed out that McHugh has all the tools to succeed on the next level and would probably be able to put up similar gaudy numbers if he were to play in a more pass-oriented offense.
However, McHugh is not about numbers as he is more interested in winning. Martinez also noted how that was another similarity about McHugh with respect to Tom Brady. Martinez also coached former Bellarmine quarterback, Austyn Carta-Samuels. Carta-Samuels never put up the eye-opening numbers while playing in the WCAL. However, he was 22-3 in his two years as a starter for Bellarmine and also had a fairly impressive freshman year for the Wyoming Cowboys in the 2009-2010 season.
McHugh has all the football physical traits and intangibles to play at the college level. The question will be if colleges will penalize him for not putting up the 300 yard passing games.
In addition, McHugh has the mental fortitude and leadership to be a quarterback at the next level. When McHugh was six years old, he was in a serious car accident. He was both mentally and physically hurt in the crash. He cites that as a turning point in his life as he had to overcome those hardships at a young age.
McHugh is aiming for a run at WCAL, CCS, and then at state in Carson. If he keeps on winning, colleges will have to be in contact with him then. Watch for McHugh in San Jose as he has all the right ingredients to be a college level quarterback.
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