Football: Busy summer paying off for Fayetteville's Powell

FAYETTEVILLE -- Taylor Powell has done a lot of traveling so far this summer.

The Fayetteville junior quarterback has flown to Memphis, Illinois and Cincinnati. He and his family have driven to visit Tulsa, Arkansas State, SMU, TCU and Oklahoma State, with a trip to West Virginia planned later this month.

All of it in an effort to showcase his football ability.

Powell was in Cincinnati for the Rivals.com QB Challenge and also participated in the high-profile Nike Elite 11 Camp in Dallas, an honor former Fayetteville quarterbacks and current Razorbacks Brandon and Austin Allen also earned. The only difference is both Allens were invited after their junior seasons, while Powell competed in the event following his standout sophomore season, turning heads as the lone quarterback from Arkansas in attendance.

"Arkansas doesn't get very much attention for football compared to California, Texas and Florida," Powell said. "So I take pride in going to all these camps and showing, 'hey, I can actually play and I'm from Arkansas.' They think Arkansas is all cornfields and stuff."

The travel appears to be paying off.

He recently earned his first scholarship offer from Arkansas State and said he feels Illinois is close to offering too. The other schools he's visited are all interested, too, including hometown Arkansas, where he's also camped this summer.

"Very, very worth it," Powell said of all the miles he's racked up.

This week, he and Fayetteville didn't have to travel far at all for the Southwest Elite 7on7 Showcase, an event run by Shiloh Christian. In fact, the Bulldogs wound up hosting one of the tournament's four pools Friday because weather made several of the grass fields around Shiloh unplayable.

The Bulldogs got off to an impressive start, winning their pool by finishing 6-1 and setting themselves up to potentially win their second 7-on-7 title this summer a few weeks after qualifying for the National Select 7-on-7 Tournament in Alabama by winning a Kansas Select Qualifier in June.

Last summer, Powell was immersed in a position battle, one he ultimately won. He threw for 2,513 yards and 20 touchdowns as a sophomore while helping lead Fayetteville to the state championship game against Bentonville, showcasing his poise despite his relative inexperience at the high school level.

This year, Powell is the unquestioned starter.

"It really helped me gain confidence going through the quarterback battle, but I would say mainly the biggest thing (this year) is being in a groove," Powell said. "Last year, I had to rotate every series (in 7-on-7). I love it, being the guy at Fayetteville High."

Powell's knowledge and comfort level with the system has grown this spring. And he's also grown physically over the past year, growing more than an inch taller while losing around five pounds but adding muscle to his 6-foot-2 frame.

"He's bigger and stronger," Fayetteville coach Daryl Patton said. "He's got a stronger arm, a quicker release. A lot of that quicker release comes from knowing where he wants to go with the ball. And just his leadership ability. He's a little more vocal. He's not as quiet as he was last year as a sophomore."

Fayetteville and Powell were high scoring last year, but might be even more explosive this fall as they transition to a more up-tempo attack.

"More like a Baylor offense," Patton said. "A lot of one-word plays. RPO-type stuff, run-pass options. ... For the personnel this year, we're a little different. I'm not saying that we couldn't do what we did last year and be successful. We probably could. But I think this fits us a little better, just the spread, up-tempo (system).

Fayetteville won't have C.J. O'Grady to utilize as a weapon on offense this year. He'll be competing for playing time for the Razorbacks just up the road. But the Bulldogs still have plenty of dangerous targets, including senior 6-foot-6 receiver/tight end Drake Wymer, who impressed Friday while presenting matchup problems for defenses.

"He's a great athlete," Powell said. "And we've got tons of receivers around us. Garland Allison, Tyson Morris, Bruce Armstrong, Barrett Banister, T-Rock (Terrance Rock). The list goes on and on."

Most importantly, Fayetteville will have a bigger, better, more confident Powell running the show again.

Sports on 07/11/2015