Kentucky Football

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Rising Star: Sam Dressman

By Dan Clasgens | Managing Editor

CovCath's Sam Dressman scored 10 times on just 38 rushes as a sophomore.

The CovCath offense rewrote the school’s record books in 2011 as senior running back Gabe Gray rushed for 27 touchdowns and junior quarterback Blake Bir passed for 28 additional scores. While Bir will return for a highly-anticipated senior season, the team must find away to replace Gray’s production in the running attack.

Head coach Dave Wirth won’t have to look too far to find answers though as the team has some very talented underclassmen returning to the mix, including junior Sam Dressman.

The 6-foot-3, 190-pound athlete made the most of his chances as a sophomore rushing for 10 touchdowns and averaging 8.2 yards per carry on just 38 attempts. Buried behind Bir on the depth chart, Wirth and his staff worked hard to get the one-time quarterback involved in the offense as creatively as they could a year ago.

Dressman is focusing his offseason efforts on finding a position that best suits him and one that puts him on the field more often. He also is working hard to improve on building both his speed and strength.

“Last year I only had a small window of opportunity to play and score, and this year I hope to be able to have a chance to do more in helping the offense get to the endzone,” Dressman said. “Stepping up to be a leader as a junior is also a role for this year.”

There were many valuable lessons he gained while picking up a varsity letter as a sophomore.

“I learned how to adjust to the game speed and gain some experience with everything that surrounds varsity football,” the junior-to-be added.

CovCath reached the 10-win mark for the first time in five years a season ago, but came up short against their district rivals, Highlands. Despite losing some talented seniors, there is plenty of optimism surrounding the program heading into 2012.

“This year’s team is returning a lot of the defensive strengths we had last year and a lot of young talent on offensive side,” Dressman claimed. “Everyone’s attitude is great, we're all on the same page and the coaches’ expectations are high.”

Dressman will play a large hand in how successful this year’s edition of the Colonels can be. How he performs in the season ahead will also go a long way towards determining what his opportunities will be to play at the next level.

“I have not been involved with any recruiting yet,” he added. “I plan to start looking into it this year after attending a few camps and seeing how the season plays out.”

For now the gifted playmaker is just soaking it all in and working on being the best he can be on and off the field.

One factor that has helped him grow as well as some of his other classmates has been the continuity atop the program as Wirth enters his third season as the head coach with much of his staff staying intact.

“Unlike the past few seasons, we have been with these coaches since we started at CovCath and everyone has a great relationship with their position coaches and all the other coaches,” Dressman stated. “They all do a great job of teaching us lessons that apply on and off the field.”

FINAL TAKE: The sky is the limit for Dressman and with two years of varsity football ahead of him he’ll only get better. He will be one of the best playmakers this season in Northern Kentucky and with his size, speed and athleticism it won’t be long before many college recruiters come knocking. Expect big things for this Colonel.

Dan Clasgens is a co-founder of TSF and serves as the President/Director of Media & Content for our parent company, GetSports Enterprises LLC. In addition to nearly a decade of experience in covering local high school football, Dan is a widely recognized as a fantasy football guru. He is both a local and national radio personality, including hosting a weekly show on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio. If you are interested in covering your team, please CONTACT US.