Redshirt junior Drew Boedecker has been named the starting quarterback for the Dickinson State Blue Hawks after battling with redshirt sophomore Aaron White.
The two did not get to fight for the job during the spring since practices were canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, but this fall Boedecker proved that he is ready to be QB1 when the Blue Hawks travel to Dakota State to open the season this weekend.
“Drew has a lot of experience since it is his fourth year in the program. He has been around the block,” Dickinson State head coach Pete Stanton said. “He is athletic and can make plays with his feet. He is in control of the offense.”
Boedecker replaces Hayden Gibson who holds most school records at the position, but he doesn’t feel any pressure.
He is aided by bringing back a lot of experience including several starters up front, a couple running backs who played a year ago and a bunch of receivers including stars Tyger Frye and Jaret Lee.
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“The offense is awesome and (offensive coordinator) Coach (Russell) McCarvel is awesome. We have a bunch of offensive linemen back so that makes my job easier, and we return our two leading wide receivers in Jaret and Tyger which is great,” Boedecker said. “They are great playmakers.”
The offense will look very similar to what it has looked like in the past even though McCarvel is a new offensive coordinator and Boedecker has a bit of a different skill set than Gibson.
The slight differences will be implementing more quarterback runs due to his mobility, and there may be some more quarterback roll outs to get Boedecker out of the pocket.
“(The game plan) is a game to game thing. We will game plan based on what their defense is doing and the personnel they have,” Stanton said. “We also have to play to our strengths and take advantage of opportunities. It won’t be very different from Hayden to Drew, but we will play to Drew’s strengths.”
Boedecker knows that missing out on practices this past spring was not ideal, because it could have helped speed up his development, but the team and offense did what they could with the situation at hand.
“Missing out on spring ball is tough,” he said. “That would have been extra reps and time with the receivers. It would have been extra metal reps too with film. You can’t get that back, but I think we did a great job with what we could do. We met on zoom and met in small groups sometimes, but we followed guidelines to throw. We did what we could.”
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While starting and playing a full game will obviously not be new to him, it has been a while since he saw extensive action. He has not started a football game at quarterback since 2016 when he was a senior in high school when he started in the state championship game for Sheridan High School in Wyoming.
He threw two passes in each 2018 and 2019, but he threw a touchdown in each season with a trick play touchdown pass to Gibson last season against Presentation.
Boedecker admitted that he got the pre-game jitters even as a back up, and that he may get them a little more this season but he is confident in himself and ready to take on the challenge of leading the Blue Hawks to a sixth straight North Star Athletic Association championship.
“(We like) his overall presence with the offense and his ability to get the ball down field to make plays. Drew has shown great leadership…,” Stanton said. “We have all the confidence in the world (in him). He will do his thing, and he has a good demeanor…. He needs to just go do this thing and he will be fine. He is ready for the challenge.”
