By Ronnie Gallagher
rgallagher@salisburypost.com
LANDIS ó His official name is Quaqavius Da’Quan Glaspy.
You can call him Quan. It’s a lot easier.
South Rowan coaches simply refer to their defensive star as “Leader.”
“Quan has a really good leadership style,” coach Jason Rollins said. “When we go “team” in practice, he’s always the first guy who picks out offensive looks. He’ll get on guys when they’re not doing well. He’s a motivator.”
A motivator who remembers when he was a freshman. Now, he is playing the role of the nurturing senior.
“We’ve got some jayvee players and they’re not fully developed in the program,” Glaspy said. “I lead them in a positive direction. I was in that position ó not quite knowing what to do. So I make them feel like they’re at home.”
Glaspy can talk all he wants because he definitely walks the walk. For Rollins, he is a linebacker, cornerback and safety.
And when a game is out of hand, as it was on Friday in a 63-0 romp against North Iredell, he is rewarded by Rollins. He becomes an offensive threat.
Glaspy took advantage of that opportunity, running twice for 46 yards. His first try at running back saw him zip through the North Iredell defense and scamper for what appeared to be a 44-yard touchdown. The film shows him staying inbounds. The film also shows a referee, for some reason, signaling him out on the two.
Not to worry. Rollins let Glaspy score on the next play.
“It feels pretty good to help out on the offensive side as well as defense,” Glaspy said.
But defense is where Glaspy shines. He stopped a couple of runs on fourth-down tries and also recovered a fumble.
“He shut down their option game, and getting in there filling the alleys was huge for us,” Rollins said.
Glaspy’s performance solidified his reputation as one of the most versatile players in the North Piedmont Conference.
“Even Thomas Lowe made the statement one time, “He’s one of the best athletes I’ve seen,’ ” Rollins said. “Quan really plays hard. He does a little bit of everything for us.”
Glaspy’s leadership and motivation were never needed more than after a 28-0 loss to undefeated West Rowan two weeks ago.
“We had to overcome that and move on,” he said. “We just had to practice hard. But I wasn’t expecting (Friday’s 63-0 final) to be that bad. Everybody’s proud of us for picking it up and getting back on track.”
South is off this week, but the goals don’t change for Glaspy and the 5-2 Raiders.
“Just win the rest of our games, go to the playoffs with a good record and hopefully get home field advantage,” he said.
And to win out, Rollins knows he’ll need Quaqavius Da’Quan Glaspy to continue doing his thing.
“I told the coaches that this would be a key year to see who steps up, not only leading by example, but with that vocal leadership,” Rollins said. “I’m really proud of him.”
No problem, says Glaspy. He’ll have his teammates ready for the Oct. 16 game at West Iredell.
“I like to yell and scream and get a little excited,” Glaspy said with a grin. “They respond to it.”