By Gene Schallenberg
Huntsville sophomore Daniel Hazlewood returned to Aggieland for the second straight year, looking to sharpen his skills at a quarterback camp held on the practice fields at Texas A&M.;
Hazlewood, who first began playing football in seventh grade, finished third in the skills competition part of the camp last summer. With a year of working with the Hornets under his belt, Hazlewood improved and returned to the quarterback camp this past weekend and won the first-place trophy in the sophomore challenge.
“It was a really good camp,” Hazlewood said Tuesday. “There were a lot of good coaches there. It was really fun.”
The young quarterback looked forward to returning to the Aggies’ camp and displayed his progress in the skills competition portion of the camp. There were five different events in which the quarterbacks competed.
In the first challenge, Hazlewood had to hit a dummy, which was fixed on a moving Gator utility vehicle. Then, the participants worked on their accuracy, trying to hit targets from distances of 10, 15, 20 and 35 yards. In the scramble challenge, quarterbacks had to sprint and throw to three different targets.
Hazlewood had no problems with the first three tests, taking first place in each event. All that was left to do was finish fourth or higher in one of the final two events and he would walk away with the championship trophy.
Hazlewood took fifth place in the long ball competition, but then got the valuable point that he needed when he finished third in the quick release test, in which he had to throw as many footballs as possible into a netted target in 25 seconds.
“We really learned a lot,” Hazlewood said. “They taught us about being able to recognize different situations during games. We learned to pick up coverages. I think this camp was really useful for me. It teaches leadership and responsibility. We also learned about the mental aspect of the game and keeping our head on straight.”
Huntsville head coach Mitchell Coey was glad to hear the news about Hazlewood and the Aggies’ quarterback camp.
“We’ve had our eyes on Daniel for a couple of years now,” Coey said. “He’s going to be a good one.”
As Hazlewood returns to Huntsville and starts preparing for the Hornets’ fall camp, which begins in a few weeks, he anticipates getting back out on the football field with the junior varsity.
“I’m really looking forward to my junior year. That’s when I think I could get to play with the varsity,” Hazlewood said. “But for right now, I want to make the most of my time with the JV. Honestly, I’d much rather start for the JV than not get to play on varsity. I think I can get a lot better that way.”
