After missing a year of football in 10th grade, Burrell's Cam Nelson made up for lost time last season.
Nelson proved to be a dual threat as the Bucs' junior quarterback, completing 96 passes for 1,194 yards and 12 touchdowns. The 5-foot-10, 170-pounder also ran for 713 yards and seven TDs.
That was good enough to rank him as the fourth-leading passer last year among quarterbacks from Class AA schools, behind only Paul Jones of Sto-Rox -- who's been projected as a first-team all-stater by several outlets -- Preston Dawson of Center and Trent Hurley of Greensburg Central Catholic, who has declared for Bowling Green University.
A quality baseball player who helped the Bucs to the 2008 PIAA title game as a sophomore infielder, Nelson wasn't planning to play football until coach Tom Henderson returned to guide the program after a two-year absence.
"When coach Henderson came back, I wanted the chance to play for him," Nelson said.
He may not play football any more after this year. Nelson said he's expecting to play baseball in college, though he hasn't totally closed the door to football.
But in the meantime, Henderson is glad to have Nelson back.
"Cam did a great job last year," Henderson said. "He understands the game better and better, and I think he will do much better this year reading defenses."
Henderson has given Nelson the green light to change plays whenever it's appropriate.
"In all the plays, you have the choice, mostly based on reads I make, and hopefully, I make the right decision," Nelson said with a smile.
Running or throwing, Burrell can tailor a game plan to Nelson's skills with the standard playbook.
"We come up with different game plans," Nelson said. "We don't put in different plays or anything, but we put a lot of practice in and it comes easy to us out on the field."
He'll have a lot of familiar faces to work with. With just Troy Highfield gone -- last year's top rusher recently joined the military -- Nelson has a stable of experienced receivers returning.
Dave Yakopec, the Allegheny Conference's leading receiver last season, is among those back. He hauled in 29 passes for 376 yards and three touchdowns a year ago.
"We should be able to move the ball pretty well," Nelson said. "We really didn't lose anybody in the receiving corps. We also have Chris Linden coming back, so we should be pretty good."
Burrell will have to play the role of road warriors this season if they are to improve on last year's 3-6 mark, as the Bucs will play contenders like Freeport, Shady Side Academy and Valley on the road. They'll have to start fast, too. Burrell, like other Class AA schools, will open the season with a conference game, hosting West Shamokin at Buccaneers Stadium Sept. 4.
Nelson, for one, doesn't see a disadvantage of going straight into conference play.
"It's just like any other game, you're out there trying to win, whether its a conference game or not," Nelson said.
