Somebody has to step up, and it might as well be the man-under-center. The past two seasons, River Ridge has experienced the luxury of having one of the area’s most-prolific rushers in Chris Schwarz–who is about to graduate and head off to D-2 West Florida in Pensacola. Schwarz accumulated 2,482 yards on the ground and 26 touchdowns while going well over 5,000 yards the past two seasons combined.

We highly doubt there’s a cloning machine readily available in west Pasco County, so the odds of plugging-in a 2,000+ yard rusher for the Royal Knights this coming season aren’t exactly good–but that doesn’t mean that River Ridge is totally devoid of playmakers on offense, because they’re not.

One of those guys that could potentially step in and try to help their cause is their quarterback, Trevor Hawks. The 5-foot-8, 165-pounder was an integral part of the teams’ success even with Schwarz on the field by finding ways to get the receivers involved while carrying the ball the second-highest amount of times next to Schwarz.

Within their offense, play-action was key–and Hawks was able to average 20 yards per reception finishing with 583 yards, 12 touchdowns and three interceptions. We mentioned the carries–Hawks finished with six touchdowns on 50 carries and 134 yards total. He also returned 4 punts for 77 yards showing off a little more of his athleticism.

If things have a tough time going on the offensive side of the ball, Hawks can potentially get things going from his DB position–posting a solid season with 81 tackles–33 solo–7 tackles for loss, one sack, an interception and an impressive 23 passes defensed along with a caused fumble.

So with talent still returning this season for the Royal Knights–but with “some” questions remaining–perhaps Hawks is the playmaker-in-waiting that River Ridge will need this coming spring and fall.