Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

TIFFIN – When Matt Haddy learned that Quinton Tran was transferring to Clear Creek Amana the Clipper head football coach cued up some film of the former City High quarterback.

It took just a few minutes for Haddy to realize that Tran was going to make a major impression on the football field this fall.

The work Tran has done on the football field has been just a small piece of the impact the senior quarterback has had in a short time at Clear Creek Amana.

“First and foremost he’s a phenomenal kid,” Haddy said. “For everything he is as a football player, he’s 10 times better as a person and that’s been a huge impact on our football team.”

Tran brings plenty to the football field.

A versatile, dual-threat quarterback the 5-foot-10, 170-pound Tran can throw (1,639 yards in two season), run (228 yards) and command an offense (City High was 16-6 in Tran’s two varsity seasons).

“He fits in great,” Clear Creek Amana senior offensive lineman Carson Nash said. “He’s got the total package with leadership, running, throwing. He can do everything.”

The on-field play has been a small part of what has allowed Tran to mesh so well with his new team so quickly.

It was what Tran has done before football season that set the tone for the first-year Clipper quarterback.

It started in the winter in the weight room shortly after Tran arrived in Tiffin as a transfer.

“The biggest thing was he came in at semester last year and got himself involved with our winter speed workouts in the weight room and I think the first thing he did that set the tone for everyone else was he didn’t miss a single day of those,” Haddy said. “He was the first one to arrive and he was going to try to win every single drill and that brought other guys along.”

After just a few short months Tran felt at home in his new school.

“The first couple of months I was just trying to fit in but everyone here has really just welcomed me in,” Tran said. “I feel like I am really part of the community and everybody really supports me.”

The transition for Tran has been smooth but it hasn’t come without work.

He spent the winter getting to know teammates while delving into the Clear Creek Amana playbook.

That meant lots of time with coaches as well as lots of film study.

“Right when I got here I had a class with coach (Matt) Casebolt and after class we’d go over plays and go over ideas that I might like,” Tran said. “I’ve been watching past film from last year and the year before that.”

Tran spent last spring on the field throwing with his new teammates.

“That time in the spring was fun, we were getting our concepts down,” Tran said. “We were installing stuff and making sure we had all the details right and we had the timing and chemistry with my teammates.”

As fall camp opened Tran didn’t look, or feel, like a newcomer.

“Everything he brings in our school building, within our program just in terms of how he carries himself and goes about his business and his expectations of himself and his expectations for everyone else has been a huge lift for us,” Haddy said. “He’s coming from a very successful program in terms of how they go about their business and how they do things and the expectations and he’s brought a piece of that with himself as well so it’s been an added bonus to the overall piece that he is as a football player.”

Tran will look to add a new dimension to a Clear Creek Amana offense that averaged less than 14 points and 218 total yards last season.

While sharing time at quarterback in his two seasons at City High Tran completed better than 70 percent of his passes while throwing for 21 touchdowns with just four interceptions.

That skill set should be a boost for a Clear Creek Amana offense that passed for 603 yards last season.

“I’m not sure that he is quite the thrower that Ben Swails was for us two years ago but he has an overall mix that puts him in that category in terms of being able to make a lot of different throws, being able to run and just being able to command the offense,” Haddy said. “He is allowing us to do a lot more stuff pre-snap and checking us to different things.”

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