Thursday, October 22, 2009
Change of position didn't faze Narrows senior
The Green Wave coaching staff needed Daniel Armstrong to move from offensive tackle to guard.
RAY COX The Roanoke Times
Narrows High School left guard Daniel Armstrong says he's a better defensive player than offensive. "Defense is pretty simple no matter where you play on the line," he says.
Ray Cox covers recreational, high school and college sports in the New River Valley. If you have information you’d like featured,
e-mail ray.cox@roanoke.com or call 381-1672
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| Ray Cox
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NARROWS -- One day you think you know what's happening, the next you don't know a thing.
Those were the circumstances in which Daniel Armstrong found himself just before the 2009 high school football season.
Before the season began, Armstrong was coming off his first season as a starting offensive tackle and second year on the defensive line at Narrows High School.
Naturally, he figured he'd be back playing those positions again.
His coaches had other plans.
As Armstrong subsequently found out, his duties were in for a drastic change when the offense took the field. A right tackle no more, he was shifting to left guard.
"We ask a lot of our guards, and we lost a couple of good ones last year," Green Wave coach Kelly Lowe said.
"They have to do a lot of trapping and pulling. They have to move well. Daniel does move well. He plays outfield on our baseball team. He moves well on the football field."
Along with moving well, Armstrong has played well after he made the switch to guard.
The most recent evidence that Lowe's handling of his personnel is paying off was last week when Narrows won its Mountain Empire District opener in a 14-12 thriller over Bland County.
The heroes were plentiful starting with sophomore linebacker Wyatt Robertson, who got his first start and celebrated the occasion with a quarterback sack that stuffed the Bears' two-point conversion that could have tied the game.
Hunter Light scored two touchdowns for the winners. Quarterback Brock Lusk heaved an 80-yard scoring pass to Light.
Fullback Ryan Dunford also had a big night, rushing for 73 yards on 15 carries. He also teamed up with Lusk on a two-point conversion pass after the go-ahead score.
"He started at fullback for the first time, and he had a great night," Lowe said of Dunford. "We'd been running predominately to our right side this year and we felt like we had to establish our left side better."
Establish it they did, the left guard playing a major role in the blocking schemes. Armstrong had some fun for sure, but then, he usually does. The move to guard has suited him especially well.
"I'd played guard in JV, and I remembered most of the stuff," Armstrong said. "I like guard better than tackle. There's more stuff I get to do rather than just blocking straight ahead."
The assignments got to be even more detailed last week.
"We set up some special blocking plays," he said. "On one play, the guard would go out and hit the tackle and the [offensive] tackle would come around and get the inside linebacker to open up that hole to the left. That worked really well."
The play had been in the playbook but not used much.
"The way Bland lines up just makes it work well," he said.
On the other side of the ball, not much has changed for Armstrong in his third season as a starter there.
"My main responsibility is to take away dives, quarterback draws and screens," he said. "I think I've been doing a pretty good job of it."
Armstrong thinks of himself as a better defensive than offensive player.
"Defense is pretty simple no matter where you play on the line," he said.
Armstrong, who is a solid 3.5 grade point average student academically, has made himself a student of offensive line play.
"He's taken it on himself to learn every position on the line except center, and I'm sure he could play that if he had to," Lowe said.
"It's very helpful because anytime somebody has a question during the game, he could tell them exactly what they're supposed to do. He's a very smart football player."
Albeit not particularly big for an offensive lineman at 6 feet, 220 pounds, Armstrong is strong, and he knows the game.
A senior now, his hope is that he'll be able to continue playing after high school. He took an unofficial visit to Marshall University and liked it there. Ferrum College is also in his plans to visit after he sends some game tapes.
"I'm hoping football can help me get into college," he said.
He has the endorsement of his high school coach in that regard.
"He's just the kind of kid you love to have on your football team," Lowe said. "He's very coachable and always works hard."
