Redux - Bentonville QB/Pitcher/Champ Kasey Ford

[OPoraquê]

He may or may not have the power everyone wants as a QB or pitcher in the SEC.

But he's not even a senior and the kid's won 3 scs in Arkansas 7A in slugfests, 2 as a QB, 1 as a pitcher.  And he's also won MVP awards in both a 7A football sc game (vs. Cabot in '13) and apparently today vs. Conway in the 7A baseball sc game.

I've met young Mr. Ford and his family in person at the Bella Vista walking trail last year.  Very nice people.  My hat's off to him for these accomplishments.

(And I also remember that there's a big gulf between college and high school, even Arkansas 7A high school, competitive as that is.)

[john]

How hard did arkansas pursue him in football or baseball?  I've known who he was for a couple years but never heard that we were after him very hard, if at all.

[OPoraquê]

I think Bielema showed up at a Bentonville High School game a year ago to watch him.

In football, he was described has having a strong arm but not much else by others here.
In baseball, he was described as not having the arm speed Razorback fans were accustomed to on "the bump".

Understood.

But the young dude came in and got to start (when the senior starter just couldn't get the job done at the time) as a sophomore, first in relief against Broken Arrow, OK then as a first-time starter vs. Euless Trinity, TX.  Ford had a chance to win both games in the end but couldn't; he could have led them to be a blowout loss.  As a sophomore, he led the Tigers to the 7A football title against Cabot and their every-fifteen-years-our-team-is-as-unstoppable-as-a-100+-car-60-mph-Union-Pacific-freight-train offense/defense, and took a pounding while doing so, earning his first state championship game MVP award.

Last football season (his weakest) he still was integral, getting yards any way he legally could in the last drive of the game, again playing the ENTIRE game, in Bentonville winning the championship.

Yesterday, his coach did not replace him, and his arm nearly fell off in the process; the radio announcers said at one point near game's end Ford was literally on his knees.  Once again, he won state championship MVP, once again, not even into his senior year.

Memories of another talented QB (though a significantly different one in skill set) who also led his team to at least 3 state championships, Kiehl Frazier, come to mind.  Ford, like Frazier, is going to have to get the right opportunity with the right team.  (In Frazier's case, that was Ouachita Baptist, where he led them to their first ever undefeated regular season in what may have ended up as that school's finest athletic year ever.)

But, like Frazier at the next level, Ford will end up winning some big games for someone.  I wish him the best at Kansas State, a school he apparently really likes.

[OPoraquê]

Oh, BTW, the very dedicated Demo-Zette-Northwest sports reporter Henry Apple asked on on Twitter yesterday if there is a previous player in the Arkansas high school upper levels of enrollment who won a state championship game MVP award in both football and baseball.  No one has yet come up with a name in response.  (I figured Basil Shabazz?  Ya'll would know better than I.)

If Ford is indeed the first Arkansas "big school" player ever to do this, then he's also the first one to do so when he wasn't yet a senior.  That's stunning.

[razorfrog]

He has a better arm than anyone in the SEC and most NFL QBs

[ricepig]

He has a better arm than anyone in the SEC and most NFL QBs

Lol

[razorfrog]

What is so funny?  Ive seen the kid play in person a few times and at 2 camps.  You do know he can throw it over 70 yards and 90 percent of NFL QBs cant do that.

[razorfrog]

It is amazing the difference in arm strength watching him and Storey throwing side by side.  Not even close

[ricepig]

What is so funny?  Ive seen the kid play in person a few times and at 2 camps.  You do know he can throw it over 70 yards and 90 percent of NFL QBs cant do that.

Throwing the ball 70 yards doesn't mean anything, this isn't track and field with the javelin. I haven't lined up all the NFL QB's in a PP&K type event, have you? Even if he can throw it further than 90% of NFL QB's, that has nothing to do with being a better QB. I guess he's headed to Canton for the HOF, lol.

[PaintballHog]

Isn't he a huge Kstate fan?

[razorfrog]

Throwing the ball 70 yards doesn't mean anything, this isn't track and field with the javelin. I haven't lined up all the NFL QB's in a PP&K type event, have you? Even if he can throw it further than 90% of NFL QB's, that has nothing to do with being a better QB. I guess he's headed to Canton for the HOF, lol.

Nobody said anything about being a better QB Numbnuts.  All I mentioned was his arm strength, that was it.  Then I got laughed at by a guy who has no clue what he is talking about.  Now get a clue

[ricepig]

Nobody said anything about being a better QB Numbnuts.  All I mentioned was his arm strength, that was it.  Then I got laughed at by a guy who has no clue what he is talking about.  Now get a clue

Better arm implies more than arm strength, I'm not the one claiming him to be better than all the SEC QB's, and most of the NFL ones. I wouldn't be calling someone names when I make a statement like that, lol.

He has a better arm than anyone in the SEC and most NFL QBs

[spurrr]

Ive seen him play football several times. Never thought he would get a hog offer after his Jr year.He still has his Sr year to improve.
Little concerned about the coach over using his arm in BB but that  is between him and the coach and I know little about pitching.

[OPoraquê]

Spurrr, I think it's moot anyway...Ford said on Channel 5 yesterday that his future is in baseball.  Let's hope he gets good advice from his (coaching) elders and doesn't hurt his arm for a shot at something bigger.  Clearly, his arm and his physique (plus the fact he seems a pretty smart kid, who's taking AP classes at Bennie, I believe) are what helped him earn the blessings he has these past two years.

He never had quite the stable of receivers that Dallas Hardison did during Bentonville's 25-1 run in 2010-11, but he had two good ones (plus Arkansas TE Jack Kraus) in 2013.  He was down to pretty much one dependable receiver in '14 (who just graduated and signed with Arkansas on a baseball scholarship).  Given that Bentonville has a new coach and graduated its top two running backs of the past two years (three if you count their relief duty) we're going to see just how good a quarterback KF is this final season of a united Bentonville High School.  Hope his heart's all in - the paper said the team will revolve around him.

[TeedupHigh]

If he was any good, the HOGS would have been on him and so would many others!  His stat line in the sate game was not that great!  He did not dominate on the mound.

[wholehog92]

If the kid continues to play football for Bentonville, my guess is they will win state again.  The kid is as talented as any QB in the country, but he likes baseball.  If he were football only, his arm talent is great mixture of Wilson and Mallett.  He can unleash a cannon or a very light easily catchable fade.

He is a K state fan and is headed there one way or another.  If you get the chance, go watch him play.  I'm sure I'll get some crap for posting this anyway.

[ricepig]

If the kid continues to play football for Bentonville, my guess is they will win state again.  The kid is as talented as any QB in the country, but he likes baseball.  If he were football only, his arm talent is great mixture of Wilson and Mallett.  He can unleash a cannon or a very light easily catchable fade.

He is a K state fan and is headed there one way or another.  If you get the chance, go watch him play.  I'm sure I'll get some crap for posting this anyway.

I agree on the K-State fandom, I'd heard he grew up one, that his dad went there. He does have a nice arm, I really thought more schools would have been on him, I guess he told them he was playing baseball.