The four teams that form the “quad of discontent” in the north and northwest sections of Hillsborough County–Gaither, Sickles, Steinbrenner and Alonso–all have something in common aside from their round-robin style arch-rivalries that exist with one another. What they have in common on the football field heading into the spring–and perhaps even into the fall–is the need for a clear-cut leader at the quarterback position.

There’s a bit of nuance involved with two of the schools–Steinbrenner and Gaither–and there’s a need at Sickles and Alonso for someone to clearly take the bull by the horns. Starting with Sickles, the Gryphons will need to find a replacement for USF’s Chris Oladokun. Last season, Oladokun completed 58-percent of his passes for 1,390 yards, but most importantly–a 3:1 ratio in terms of touchdowns to interceptions. Alonso, the school that Oladokun transferred from before the start of his senior season, went with a platooned approach with sophomores Jaylen Striker and Alex Laccabue, freshman Shaye Scott and senior Derrick Walker getting reps during the season. The Ravens undoubtedly will be looking at the three remaining players as the head into the spring.

That leaves Steinbrenner and Gaither. With regards to Steinbrenner, they experienced their best season in their program history with a quote-unquote backup in the form of sophomore Colin Wray. The return of sophomore QB Cason Byrd means there will be stiff competition at the position and as the old adage goes–if you’ve got two, you’ve got none. Of course, either one will suffice for the Warriors and that “competition” we speak of is only going to make Steinbrenner even better.

Last but not least, the Cowboys of Gaither High School actually have their main starter returning. That leaves Class of 2018 signal-caller Gavin DenBoer as the “dean” of north-northwest Hillsborough QB’s at the moment. Although DenBoer’s youth and inexperience reared its less-than-savory nature during the season, hope springs eternal with another year of weight training and reps under his belt. Gaither hung their hats on their ground game with nearly a 3:1 ratio (1,772 yards rush vs. 648 pass) in total yardage last season and that leads to predictability to say the least.

So with all four rivals needing a definitive answer at the most-definitively scrutinized position, things are about to get interesting as we head into the spring–as if they weren’t already when it comes to these teams.