QB battle: Their rivalry continues

Ormond Beach Observer
Sports

Junior quarterback and Warner Christian transfer Anthony Butler and sophomore Brevin Glaze have reunited, again, on the football field, only this time as teammates for Seabreeze.

A few years ago, their Pop Warner teams met up five times, three times in the regular season twice in the playoffs. While Butler got the better of Glaze twice, both in the regular season, Glaze’s team won once in the regular season and twice in the playoffs.

In those five games, Butler played as a wide receiver, but now, he’s transitioned into a quarterback, a good one. Glaze is also a good quarterback, and the two are in a hotly contested battle to see who will begin this year’s season leading the Sandcrabs.

“He’s still my friend,” Butler said. “We still talk in school and everything, but, when we get out on the field, it’s just business. We have to fight for our spot.”

“I’m still going to work as hard as I can to be the starter,” Glaze said. “Hopefully, he’ll work as hard he can, too, because he knows he has to work for it.”

First-year head coach Skip Saunier almost had three potential quarterbacks battling for the starting job, but Justin Muller, who started most of last season, decided to transfer to Spruce Creek a few weeks ago.

“Right now, I would have to project Anthony as being the starter, unless someone can outplay him over the summer,” Saunier said. “Brevin is still recuperating from his knee surgery, so we’re going to bring him along. With Justin leaving, it definitely hurts us, as far as stability at the position goes, whether or not Justin, Anthony or Brevin was going to be the starter. You can’t have enough good players, but we’re going to go with what we got. I’m looking forward to Anthony or Brevin being the starting quarterback.”

With Butler and Glaze, they both possess the dual threat of running and passing. Saunier is already looking to build on that new offensive threat with his new guys.

“Coach (Marc) Beach was brilliant at utilizing strengths, and that’s what I plan on doing with them,” Saunier said. “In the spread offense, you got to have a quarterback that can run and throw, so we have to build a passing game, a quarterback running game and our running back running game.”

“It’s fortunate to have guys who can do both,” he added. “As a defensive coordinator for most of my life, that’s the one thing a team can’t account for. When a quarterback drops back, and, all the receivers run, he can also take off. The next thing you know, when it was fourth-and-nine, and now it’s first down. I’m very lucky to have that, and I’m looking forward to getting to work with them.”