No QB is good enough to do it without his receiving core. In this case he has a least the start of a really good group, all with good speed and the ability to pull the ball in and take it to the house and a couple guys that are going to be hard to bring down after they catch it. They are pictured above, starting from Left to right with a 6’3″ tight end or wide out, Jackson Arnold, Adam Surrey is next in line and looks to be a very good slot receiver who can run his routes correctly and be a load to tackle after the catch. Then stands Rio Littmer QB, Coach Hayden Sphire, Ian Garahan another slot receiver that can boggy after packing it away , Coach Sink, then Tyus McCarter who is not only fast but quick and as he gets comfortable, he will be another WR to reckon with, then stand’s the master mind behind it all Coach Bob Sphire.
There are just some places you pull up to when driving and you say, Wow this is beautiful. The football field at this school in a charming town in Northern Ky. is one of those places, as it lays on the side of a high hill just across the Ohio river from downtown Cincinnati with a magnificent view of the surrounding landscape. I guess it didn’t hurt that the day was in the mid 60’s and bright sunshine.
We were greeted by an enthusiastic but seasoned Head Football Coach Bob Sphire who is there after an awesome career in Gwinette, Ga. area and anybody that knows about that place knows you must be good to be a winning coach and be from there. Bob has had multi-D1 players and played with and against many top football guys with several still playing our great game. Also, alongside him was his son, Hayden Sphire, who is the offensive Coordinator and QB coach and a very knowledgeable and impressive young coach. Ft. Thomas Highlands will be for real going forward, I have no doubt.
After we got started with his young, but very talented dual threat QB Rio Littmer I wanted to shout, you better start buying your season tickets now Highland fans because these Bluebirds are going to be flying around this fall and they will entertain you! If Rio is home today working on his homework, we gave him and continues to going forward, he will be the catalyst for Coach Hayden’s wide-open offense.
I guess I was the most impressed when after one and a half hours of work I asked if anyone else wanted to run more routes. It was unanimous, every player agreed, so we finished we 30 more minutes of deep routes like fades, deep posts, deep crossing routes, and deep corners, and not only did these kids do them, they did them with smiles on their faces like you do when you love what you are doing. The QB, Rio, even got more impressive as he threw the deep balls so he improved greatly during the 2 hour and is on his way to being that dual threat top QB the Sphire boys had hoped for. As for Coach Sink, he had a great time too, with a bunch of good football men and players.
