Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – The list of returning offensive talent on the Regina roster is impressive.

Regina returns five all-staters among eight offensive starters coming back.

The Regals have a pair of highly ranked recruits in juniors Savion Miller and Tate Wallace.

Miller is as dynamic a running back as there is in the state and Wallace is a 6-foot-3, 245-pound matchup nightmare as a receiver.

Regina has a rising star in 200-pound sophomore running back Gabe Hegelheimer and proven producers in senior wide receivers Drew Greve and Hudson Koch.

That’s a lot of offensive firepower.

The task of leading the potentially explosive Regina offense falls on senior quarterback Kyle Tracy.

According to Tracy the long list of playmaking teammates makes his job pretty simple.

“It makes my job easy, having all those weapons, all I have to do is get the ball to my playmakers,” Tracy said. “That’s what we’ve been stressing.”

Being a game manager isn’t a label most quarterbacks want to receive.

Tracy doesn’t mind the term, he knows his role is to be the unquestioned leader, traffic director and distributor for a group of playmakers as deep and talented as any in Class 1A.

And it’s a role he takes seriously.

“He’s just a phenomenal leader for our team,” Regina coach Dustin Elsbury said of Tracy. “He’s very vocal, he’s going to get guys to rally around him, guys gravitate toward him.”

Make no mistake, Tracy is a playmaker in his own right.

In his first season leading the Regina offense Tracy accounted for 2,652 yards of total offense and 28 touchdowns while directing the Regals to a 9-2 record.

The Tracy-led Regina offense averaged 362 total yards, 6.8 yards per play and 28.6 points per game last season.

In his second season under center the expectation for Tracy is to see those offensive number rise.

“I think that experience is one of the biggest things in football,” Tracy said. “I think with that experience and the people that we have we will be able to make a jump like that.”

Look closer at the weapons Tracy has at his disposal.

Miller is up to 200 pounds after rushing for 922 yards and eight touchdowns on 5.8 yards per carry last season.

Hegelheimer joins Miller in the backfield after rushing for 114 yards and a touchdown in a backup role last season.

Wallace led the Regals in receptions (51), receiving yards (752) and touchdowns (8) last season and Greve and Koch combined for 29 receptions for 389 yards and six touchdowns.

“We bring back all of our talent and coach (Ed) Hinkel has done a really good job of putting in what we need to do to be successful in the scheme,” Tracy said. “I think the sky is the limit for this offense because we have those returning pieces it’s just going to be can we go out there and execute and work hard every day and that will lead to the results that we need.”

While the talent is spread across every position at Regina it’s up to Tracy to make it all run smoothly.

As a first-year starter last fall Tracy completed 62 percent of his passes (131-213) while throwing for 1,901 yards with 19 touchdowns and eight interceptions.

He also rushed for 751 yards and a team-leading nine touchdowns.

During the offseason Tracy drilled down on the small stuff.

He wants to raise his completion percentage, cut down on miscues, take what’s the defense gives and most importantly get the ball to his playmakers.

“Something that I love to do is scramble around and make plays but can I complete the 10-yard pass in the two minute drill and get my guy out of bounds?,” Tracy said. “I worked a lot just on the every day football plays, every down, can I do that effectively every time is what I’ve tried to work on. Just that consistency.”

Tracy also worked on getting bigger and stronger.

The 5-foot-11, 180-pound senior was leader in the weight room during the offseason.

“He’s a leader and usually you see that at the quarterback position but he’s a guy that works his butt off in the weightroom,” Elsbury said. “He’s at every lifting session, his peers think really highly of him.”

The weight room worked has already begun paying off as Tracy has showed a stronger and more accurate arm this fall.

“He was fantastic last year but I’ve seen him improve in throwing the deep ball and his accuracy,” Wallace said. “He’s standing in the pocket, he’s worked his butt off all offseason and he’s doing really good stuff.”

The expectation for the Regina offense and for the Regals as a team is to take a step forward this season.

Elsbury says that starts with his senior leader at quarterback.

“He’s a confident guy, he believes in himself,” Elsbury said. “Last year I kind of set the tone with him over the summer that he has to believe in himself and he took that and ran with it and had a heck of a year and I’m looking forward to him just taking on more of a leadership role and understanding the defense a little more this year. I think he has upped his game as far as football IQ and reading the defense.”

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