By Jim Henry
jhenry@joplinglobe.com
In the last three seasons Missouri Southern quarterback Adam Hinspeter has thrown for 7,173 yards and completed almost 65 percent of his passes.
This year the Lions will ask the 6-foot-5, 250-pounder from Centralia, Mo., to do even more.
“We’ve treated him like a senior for two years now,” offensive coordinator Matt Karleskint said. “It’s just the situation we had when we came here. He calls out protections for us at the line, route adjustments, things of that nature. He does a lot of stuff at the line of scrimmage. We just feel comfortable with him.
“This is my fifth year with Bart (Tatum, head coach), and this is the most we’ve ever asked a quarterback to do.”
Last season he averaged 195.8 passing yards per game, hitting 228 of 378 attempts for 2,154 yards. He threw 18 touchdown passes and 14 interceptions.
“Statistically he can cut down those interceptions. Everywhere else, I’ve been pleased with Adam,” Karleskint said. “The interception ratio ... touchdown passes depend on situations sometimes, and we haven’t been too terribly explosive at the wide receiver position. But the interceptions, especially the silly ones, we need to cut those down.”
Karleskint said Hinspeter has been sharp with his passing during fall camp.
“Very sharp ... he has completed about 72 percent of his balls, and we grade every day,” Karleskint said. “It’s going to be really hard to take him out for any prolonged period of time.”
Roland Thompson, a sophomore from New Orleans, has won the backup job over former Webb City standout Collin Howard, but nothing is etched in stone.
“It’s always ongoing,” Karleskint said. “We feel really good about both of them athletically. Typically when we find a backup, the No. 3 will just stand, receive no reps, but he’ll be mentally in the practice. We will give Collin reps. That goes against what we typically do, but he’s so athletic ... we don’t want to just put him on the shelf. We might have an option package for him when he comes in the game.
“Collin has caught on really good. He’s incredibly smart. Roland came our first fall here. He was the backup the day he walked on campus, so he’s been exposed to our offense much differently than Collin. Collin came in, redshirted, was with the scout team for a year whereas Roland was soaking it all in from the moment he got here. Roland is quite a bit ahead as far as knowledge of the offense, and Roland is very talented, too. It’s going to be interesting. We’re going to keep it pretty much open the whole year. That’s the way I like it. Both of those guys know they can’t really slip. Roland so far has graded out better.”
Thompson saw action in five games last season, hitting 8 of 11 passes for 94 yards and two scores. He also netted 78 yards on 14 rushes, with a long run of 29 yards.
This year Karleskint hasn’t ruled out the possibility of using two, or three, quarterbacks in the game.
“Last year we worked Roland in a little bit toward the end of the year with some option stuff, and he showed some promise,” he said. “We’ll take it game by game. Harding (season opener on Saturday) ... we’ll probably put those guys in the game plan, both of them.”
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