Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

WEST BRANCH – The spring months were supposed to be a time that Gavin Hierseman could focus on football.

There aren’t official spring football practices for Iowa high schools but with winter filled with basketball and baseball occupying the summer months, spring was a natural opportunity for Hierseman to squeeze football training into his busy sports schedule.

Instead the global coronavirus pandemic shut down schools, closed weight rooms, cancelled spring sports and altered the plans for athletes around the state.

It didn’t stop Hierseman from focusing on football.

In fact, it allowed the West Branch senior quarterback even more time to spend focusing on football just in a different way than he initially imagined.

“I watched a lot of film for sure,” Hierseman said. “I got my mind right more than anything.  With all the gyms being closed just working out on your own you can only do so much so I focused on what I could to get better.”

Hierseman isn’t the only high school quarterback that was studying game film during the quarantine months.

Where Hierseman had an advantage over many of his peers is he lives with his offensive coordinator.

Hierseman’s father John was the quarterback of the Bears’ 1989 state title team and the team’s offensive coordinator.

Having your position coach in the house turned a few months of quarantine from a negative to a positive for Hierseman.

“With no school that was pretty much all we put our focus on so I think we are a step ahead.,” Gavin Hierseman said. “We always get along well, I’m always willing to learn and do things at home to get better last year was my first year playing quarterback so there was a lot to learn and I knew that going in. I knew it was going to take time more than just at practice so him being at home and being able to ask questions go through something was really nice.”
Getting the football in his hands was always the goal for Hierseman.

As a youth, that meant playing running back rather than quarterback so that’s where he lobbied his coaches to play him.

Hierseman was a receiver as a sophomore but didn’t catch a pass in a varsity game.

West Branch head coach Butch Pedersen approached Hierseman about making the move to quarterback the winter of his sophomore season.

It was an easy decision for the long-time West Branch coach.

“The kids gravitate to him,” Pedersen said. “He’s a good leader, he does things right, he’s a good student. His father was the quarterback of our 1989 state championship team so that was a pretty easy one to figure out.”

Hierseman proved to be a natural under center.

He completed 62 percent of his passes last season while throwing for 1,550 yards and 19 touchdowns with just four interceptions.

Hierseman also rushed for 447 yards and eight touchdowns in his first season of varsity action.

“Last year was his first year and I thought he really developed and I think he is a tremendous quarterback,” Pedersen said. “He is so versatile, he can run, he can pass he is smart, he can audible he can play defense if we have to. He can punt. He can do a lot of things. He’s a very natural athlete.”

The time at home with his father and offensive coordinator couldn’t have come at a better time for Hierseman who admits he relied on his athletic ability at times during his debut season.

With more a knowledge base of the concepts in his own offense after playing for a year Hierseman and his father spent quarantine working on breaking down defenses, a relatively new concept for the young quarterback.

“We spent a lot of time just learning how to read coverages,” Hierseman said. “Last year I didn’t really know how to read a defense so I was just kind of out there playing. This year I really understand more about what the defense is doing with coverages and personnel.”
The film sessions also showed some personal flaws that Hierseman was able to work on correcting on his own.

“I got to watch myself and see what I needed to do better,” Hierseman said. “I was able to touch up on some things like footwork and things like that.”

One of only four senior full-time starters returning Hierseman has to transition quickly into the main leader of the West Branch offense.

It’s a role he’s prepared for all offseason as the Bears seek another deep postseason run after going 10-1 and falling in the 1A quarterfinals a year ago.

“Last year we were expecting big things and this year it’s going to be a little different I think we might be an underdog in some games but I think that’s fueled us a lot more,” Hierseman said. “I think we are even more motivated this year than we’ve been in the past.”

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