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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

2022 Fall High School Sports Preview: Mead coach, quarterback more comfortable in second season

The adage says, “familiarity breeds contempt.” But for Mead football coach Keith Stamps and his Panthers crew, familiarity could bring a finish at or near the top of the Greater Spokane League 3A ranks.

Stamps was a late hire last year, so he didn’t get a normal offseason with his players. In fact, he admits this time last year he was still putting names to faces for much of his squad.

“A year ago, we were still getting to know kids and, honestly, our coaching staff was learning to work together,” he said. “It was a new coaching staff and getting to know the kids and what their strengths and weaknesses are. Now, we’ve had a whole offseason, seven months, whatever it is. And then a lot of time with our quarterback.”

That quarterback is all-league honorable mention Colby Danielson.

“We have three quarterbacks that have been in the system now for a year that we feel good about,” Stamps said. “But Colby is the senior returning starter and does a really nice job.

“He’s another year in the system. He’s one of the hardest workers in our program and has great command of the huddle.”

Stamps was effusive in his praise for his dual-threat signal caller. At 6-foot-3, when Danielson drops back he looks the part, with a strong arm and excellent touch on deep throws. When he takes off, either in a run-pass option or when a play breaks down, he uses his sprinter-quality speed to outrun everyone on the field.

“He has the physical tools and we’re excited to see them,” Stamps said. “I’ve been doing this a while and he’s by far the fastest quarterback I’ve ever had, which opens some things up offensively. It allows us to be creative with some of the stuff we do.

“But the big thing is having that senior quarterback, returning starter, leader in the huddle, and his relationships and timing with all the receivers we have. They’re on the same page and that’s been really nice.”

Danielson has been working out with speed coaches over the summer and boasts about his 40-yard dash time.

“In the summer my fastest 40 was 4.42. So definitely, I’ll be able to help out in the run game,” he said. “But I do have the arm strength too.”

The Panthers got better last year – especially on offense – as the season went along. A lot of that had to do with Danielson’s progress from week to week.

“You hope that trend and progression continues,” Stamps said. “I thought his improvement from Week 1 until the end of the season last year was remarkable. Hopefully that’s a testament to us coaching kids up the right way, but more importantly, to his work ethic and commitment to what he’s doing.

“One of the strengths to (Danielson’s) game is his arm strength and he is comfortable throwing deep routes. I think the area we’ve seen the most improvement on in him is the underneath stuff, the shorter stuff. Having that touch and putting the ball on the right shoulder, the receiver or whatever it needs to be. But he’s very comfortable throwing the deep ball and has the arm strength to do it.”

“Stamps has done a great job,” Danielson said. “Despite our record last year (3-6), it wasn’t the best, but he’s a great dude, great coach. He knows the game. I think with all the returners we have great chemistry, and everyone knows him now, everyone’s comfortable with him.”

“I would say that for all of our kids, hopefully we’re ahead of where we were last year,” Stamps said. “I felt good about last fall. It’s not the record we want – we want to compete for GSL championships every year, and that’s our No. 1 goal. But I did think from Week 1 to Week 10, we got better every week – learning to compete and do things the right way.”

One of the strengths of this Panthers team will be its experienced offensive line, led by center Jacob Gatlin, a first-team all-league selection last season.

“We’ve got three seniors on the offensive line that are returning starters,” Stamps said. “Gatlin is maybe the best football player on our team. It’s just because he’s an offensive lineman, you don’t notice it.”

“The expectation of having a good offense starts up front, which is a big deal,” Gatlin said. “Colby does a good job with that. He’s always encouraging us, buying us food and stuff, eating over at his house. He does a really good job with that. His element of speed helps us a lot too because he can correct some of our mistakes with his speed.”

The group lost their guards to graduation but have experienced backups sliding into the starting roles.

“Both of the new kids, both of our guards, we know them very well,” Gatlin said. “They played scout team last year, and they’ve hopped in really nice.”

The Panthers dropped a couple of one-score games last season. It’s been a point of emphasis for Stamps all offseason.

“We’ve talked about that openly with our kids,” he said. “We are now in our mental headspace – are we ready to win one-score games? We dropped three one-score games last year that I think we were all a couple plays away from winning.

“Credit the other teams, they made the plays, and we didn’t. Hopefully we’re training and conditioned and mentally in a place where we’re going to make that play in the fourth quarter now.”

“A lot of games last year we kind of either started soft or ended a little soft,” Gatlin said. “If we just play hard the whole game, that’ll help us turn those close games into wins.”

One factor that might help Mead close out those games is an infusion of talent – and speed – on the outside. Wideouts Keenan Kuntz (West Valley) and all-league honorable mention Johnny Talarico (Ferris) were added to the roster this season to complement returners Max Workman and Nolan Braun.

“On the outside at the skill spots, we’re night and day from where we were a year ago,” Stamps said. “You add in Keenan (Kuntz) and Johnny (Talarico) and that’s a pretty dynamic group. It’s by far the fastest group of receivers I’ve ever coached.”

A midyear transfer last year, Kuntz was No. 1 in the district qualifying meet in the spring in the 100-meter dash but missed the state meet due to injury.

“He is ‘fast-fast,’ ” Stamps said. “You know, there’s ‘fast’ and there’s fast-fast.’

“Colby tried to out throw him – that’s a good little challenge for him. But he’s a legitimate deep threat. He’s picking up the offense. He’s learning offense and defense right now. It’s all new for him. He’s been a great addition and it’s gonna be fun to have that kind of speed.”

Everyone associated with the program acknowledges that a fast start would go a long way for the Panthers, but the schedule points to Week 9, when Mead faces Mt. Spokane in the Battle of the Bell. Now that both schools are in the 3A classification, the game means more than district pride.

“If (both schools) can get to that game, and then if it’d be a big one, that’d be pretty cool for this community and the families and players on both sides and schools,” Stamps said. “And I think that’s the perfect time to play that game.”

“Ever since I was little, that’s all I dreamed about was playing in that game,” Danielson said. “From elementary school, you know, all the way up. I always went to the games, loud crowd and stuff. And I was like, ‘Man, I can’t wait for that moment to be playing in that game.’ “