As the 2013 season draws closer by the day, Thursday night will bring an intriguing contest between tradition rich Jesuit and newer school, Palm Harbor attempting to build a lasting tradition. The battle with in the battle, will be between competing senior quarterbacks, Tyler Kaminski (Palm Harbor) and Vincent Testaverde Jr. (Jesuit). Each with their own story and motivation; Both with a common goal.
Jesuit is coming off a 7-3 season in 2012, missed the playoffs and struggled to produce offensive points. The Tigers played 3 quarterbacks last season, producing just 589 passing yards and 3 passing TDs together.
This season, Vincent Testaverde Jr. is penciled in as the starter. Played in 7 games last season in the Tigers QB rotation. But, this year should be different. He is more experienced, more poised and has expectation he wants to meet.
How excited is Vincent to be the primary signal caller for the Tigers? “I’m very excited to be the man in charge. Also very anxious to see how well the team is going to perform this year.”
Rumors floated around last season about turmoil within the Jesuit football team. Ultimately, James Harrell resigned as the head football coach and Matt Thompson (former Armwood Defensive Coordinator) was hired. The message to the team is simple…Trust, “I’m hoping to see the team come together and play as one unit and I want every man trusting his teammate that they’ll get their job done each play,” says Testaverde.
In an intriguing QB battle, Kaminski (Palm Harbor) wants to perform well against Jesuit and Testaverde wants to start his season off well also versus Palm Harbor. Both guys were very classy when asked about competing versus one another. Said the right thing and gave the perfect answer. Testaverde stated, “I have always been the competitive type. So I’m always trying to out work my opponent.”
If the first and last name sounds familiar, it should. Vincent’s father is former NFL QB (for twenty-one seasons), University of Miami All-American and Heisman Trophy winner (1986), Vinny Testaverde. Without making this article about the Heisman Trophy winner, the attention to details and learning curve for the younger Testaverde is rather high. Besides throwing the ball, footwork and mechanics, what has Vincent learned from his father? “My father has taught me to be the leader, and to always stay positive because the team is going to feed off my energy.”
What is the biggest difference between this year’s team and last year’s team?
“Well as everyone knows, we lost a lot of talent from last year. But I think the biggest difference is how hard this year’s team has been working. I think we’re going to be better than last year.”