"Hawks show off skills" -- August 28, 2006

BY CALEB BREAKEY
THE OLYMPIAN

Two skill positions. Two brothers. Two last names. One is compared to a legendary NFL running back, the other is known as "crazy legs."

Dontavious Fleming and Chris Jackson are their names. Jackson, a senior wide receiver, earned his nickname shortly after trying out for the Hawks for the first time in 2005. Upon hearing it -- "Look at those crazy legs!" -- Jackson just smiled.

"They say my feet move faster than my body," he said. "It looks weird because when I cut, my feet go over my other foot."

Fleming, a sophomore wingback, is touted as the second coming of Hawks' former all-league standout Allan Bennett. Earlier this season Hawks head coach Steve Schultz went to the University of Washington with Fleming, who caught the eyes of Tyrone Willingham, the Huskies head coach. Willingham introduced himself to Fleming after watching him practice.

Hawks players also praise Fleming's ability on the football field.

"You know how Barry Sanders is? Stop, go, quick," said senior lineman Charles Richardson. "He's like that. He's really elusive."

Paired with the Hawks' talent at quarterback and tight end, River Ridge envisions the brothers leading an athletic offensive attack that may surprise other teams this season.

"Those two guys are special guys, and they'll be lined up right next to each other," Schultz said. "There's something about a couple of brothers playing together out there. It kind of makes me excited."

Leadership and unison form the basis of the Hawks revamped team. Quarterback Joey DeLuca held a barbecue for the Hawks two weeks ago, something uncommon last season. The gathering helped players get to know each other and start a bond.

DeLuca displays his leadership in several ways.

One of the Hawks conditioning drills calls for a player from each class to volunteer to run a sprint in 13 seconds or fewer. Shultz hollered for volunteers last week and, after a brief silence, DeLuca -- one of the team's slower players -- raised his hand and ran for the seniors.

The Hawks' 2005 seniors were off by themselves, a clique that made it hard for each thread of the Hawks to piece together, Richardson said. But that's changed.

"This year it's not like we have sophomores, juniors and seniors," Richardson said. "We have one class."

DeLuca, aside from his leadership on and off the field, directs the Hawks' high-powered offense that includes Jackson, Fleming and sophomore tight end Ross Creamer, whom teammates say has monster leaping ability and good hands.

Players will play on both sides of the ball this season, but won't start both ways. This flexibility allows the team to scrimmage and better themselves because talent spreads the entire field. Fleming noted last Tuesday's practice as an example.

"Our defense was just scratching us for the first 45 minutes," he said. "But the last 20 minutes the offense picked it up and got a couple touchdowns -- a couple big runs, a couple big passes."

The Hawks lost four games in the fourth quarter last season, but Fleming said the team's new rotation scheme will generate more freshness when the Hawks strut onto the field in the final 12 minutes, as they will Sept. 1 against the Timberline Blazers.

Creamer said the Hawks had more mental lapses than physical lapses in pressure situations last season.

"They would think that they had the game won," he said. "You can't ever think that in a sport because you give the opponent an opportunity to strike back at you."

Richardson, entering his fourth season with the Hawks, leads the team's most experienced front, the defensive line. But the team is in awe of the fact that he's back just three months after rupturing his spleen into six pieces during a jamboree June 10.

Schultz thought Richardson's season was over.

"The nurses in the ER were amazed he was even standing," he said. "I thought the kid was done. You just don't get back on the horse that quick."

Richardson, who squats more than 450 pounds, did whatever doctors allowed him in the weight room this summer and is back playing full contact, marked with an 8-inch scar.

Some people call Richardson a glutton for punishment, but Schultz calls it dedication -- the factor he said would carry the Hawks.

"Anyone who asks me what we're looking like, I tell them that we're young and inexperienced," he said. "And I tell them also that our goal is to finish top two in league. Just because we're young doesn't take away the expectation to win on the field."

COACH: Steve Schultz (5th year with Hawks, 9th overall)
LAST YEAR: 4-5, fifth in league
RETURNING STARTERS: Zero offense, two defense
OFFENSIVE/DEFENSIVE SETS: Spread/3-3
KEY RETURNERS: Tyler Cummings, OL-DL, 6-4, 260, sr.; Charles Richardson, DL-RB, 5-10, 190, sr.; Joey DeLuca, QB, 6-0, 220, sr.; Jon Skorna, LB-TE, 5-11, 175, sr.
STRENGTHS: Team chemistry, desire to win
WEAKNESSES: Inexperience
NOTABLE: The Hawks freshman team had an 8-1 record last season. This year a handful of sophomores are suiting up for varsity.
COACH'S OUTLOOK: "You're going to see a team that gets better from the beginning of the year to the end of the year," Schultz said. "We're platooning, which means we have guys playing only on one side of the ball. Instead of splitting three practices in half each week, and going half offense and half defense, they're going three practices full-time offense or full-time defense. We have a lot of balance across the board, so we can play a lot of kids."