Carter Speyerer is happy to share the ball, and the spotlight, with his Blazers teammates

Carter Speyerer spent a ton of time in the offseason working on his quarterback skills, but the Daniel Boone senior doesn’t talk much about that.

Ask what he needs to do to improve his game and he talks about his Blazers teammates coming together as a team.

Inquire about his non-stop visits to college camps and showcases, and what that’s done for his game, and he tells you how much better the Blazers are going to be.

“The jump from last year to this year is going to be insane,” Speyerer says, believing the Blazers can flip their 2-6 record of a year ago. “We’re gonna really surprise a lot of people.”

Wide receiver Alex Vassallo, who connected with Speyerer a league-leading 41 times last season, isn’t surprised as he listens to his quarterback deflect attention and spread the praise.

“That’s how he’s always been,” said Vassallo, who has been playing with Speyerer since they were old enough to tie their own cleats.

The 6-foot, 190-pound Speyerer spent the past eight months working feverishly to hone his game. He worked with Manheim trainer Darryl Daniel to improve his speed and agility, and with Lebanon Valley offensive coordinator Chris Thompson, a former quarterback at Bloomsburg, to clean up his footwork.

He went to camps or took part in 7-on-7 competitions at Penn State, Villanova, Temple, Sacred Heart, Kutztown, Bloomsburg, Lebanon Valley and other schools.

He attended more than half-a-dozen prospect camps and was named offensive MVP at several of them, including the Maryland/Delaware Elite Prospects Camp, where has named the top quarterback from Pennsylvania.

At the Elite11 camp in April he was ranked the No. 10 quarterback and joined Central York’s Beau Pribula (a Penn State recruit) and Central Dauphin’s Max Mosey as the only Pennsylvanians in the Top 10.

“That was a big deal for him,” said Boone coach Rob Flowers.

“I’m trying to show that I’m one of the best QBs out there, hopefully get my name out there,” said Speyerer, who certainly has gained noticed.

He didn’t put up huge numbers as a junior — 945 passing yards with seven TD passes and a 45.0 completion rate — but he’s shown the physical skills to do more.

He’s a true dual-threat quarterback who can beat you just as easily with his legs (he led the team in TDs last season) as with his arm.

“He can throw the ball,” Flowers said. “He can throw a deep ball, a hitch, a dig, a comeback, he can throw every ball from the pocket. In high school football, when you have a kid back there who can run and throw it, it’s problematic for the defenses.”

Speyerer figures to be faster and stronger this season, and he’ll have a better supporting cast around him. He’s part of a dedicated 19-member senior classes that came in with Flowers four years ago. He’s one of eight starters back on defense — he plays strong safety, and was ranked by his coaches as the Blazers’ top player on that side of the ball last season — and eight returning on offense.

“We just need to be better as a team,” Speyerer said. “Get everyone together, doing the same thing, playing as a team and not worrying about what the score is, just play.”

But how about you, Carter? What should we expect to see there?

“I’m just concentrating on being me,” he said, ” throwing the ball the best that I can, running the ball as hard as I can, making every throw, reading the defense, throwing touchdowns.”

“We’ll see him be a little more decisive,” Flowers said, “(have) more confidence when he’s delivering the ball.”

Speyerer showed his versatility in last year’s season opener when he threw a touchdown pass in the final minute, then caught the winning two-point conversion on a “Philly Special” type play that lifted the Blazers over Twin Valley 43-42.

“I have the best hands on the team,” he joked. “It was the perfect time to call it; (Coach) had confidence in us, and we had confidence in the play. It just worked.”