Offensive coaches have always tried to get the ball in the hands of their best athletes, and sometimes that means the best athlete has to play quarterback.

 

Craig Yeast did that years ago in his senior season at Harrodsburg, when the Pioneers had no viable options at the position. He couldn’t throw passes to himself, but he could cover a great deal of ground in a hurry.

 

Chris Crawley-Goodman isn’t the same type of player as Yeast, but he is filling the same role for Mercer County, albeit on a temporary basis. And in two games at his new position, he has proved to be a very quick study.

 

Crawley-Goodman is a wide receiver by trade, but he has started at quarterback in the Titans’ last two games in place of injured Drew Davis, who was sidelined by a high ankle sprain he suffered several weeks earlier.

 

Statistically speaking, the results have been mixed. In start No. 1, he was 2 for 9 for just 33 yards against Lexington Catholic. In start No. 2, he threw four touchdown passes and went 9 for 14 for 231 yards against Marion County last week.

 

No one would dispute the difference between Lexington Catholic and Marion, and it would be easy to say that accounted for the difference in Crawley-Goodman’s performance from one week to the next. It would also be wrong.

 

That was certainly one factor, but not the only one, and probably not the most important one. Mercer had its open date between those two games, giving Crawley-Goodman time to get comfortable at his new position and giving the Titans’ coaches time to broaden his knowledge of it.

 

The result: Crawley-Goodman made better decisions, threw better balls and did a better job running the offense. Two of his first four passes went for touchdowns, as he hooked up with Layne Peavler on scoring plays of 50 and 71 yards, and he even executed a nifty reverse.

 

“We did some more things. Obviously we threw the ball better than we did against Lexington Catholic a couple weeks ago,” Mercer coach Chris Pardue said. “Chris has grasped that position, he’s decided to take that position and make the best of it, and I’m really proud of him for what he’s done.”

 

Crawley-Goodman said he wasn’t sure the play-calling was that much different, but his comfort level was.

 

“It was just the timing of the handoffs and the snaps, just being comfortable with it, kind of feeling the flow of the game,” he said.

 

It’s hard to find an athlete who makes the games he plays look as effortless as Crawley-Goodman. He plays baseball and football, and on both fields he moves with an ease that sometimes belies how good he can be, and he backs it with a wide smile that tells you he’s enjoying every minute of it.

 

This spring, he was one of the leading hitters in the state baseball tournament, where he went 5 for 11 to raise his overall batting average by 23 points to .309 and help Mercer reach the championship game.

 

This fall, he was one of Mercer’s top receivers through five games, with 16 catches for 304 yards and two touchdowns, before he was pressed into service at quarterback.

 

He’ll be back under center Friday, when the Titans host Taylor County, and perhaps for some time after that as Davis, who was wearing a boot cast on the sideline last week, tries to heal his injured ankle.

 

Crawley-Goodman is the fourth person to play quarterback for Mercer since its projected 2012 starter was injured days before last season began. And while he may not keep the job for the long term, and while Mercer’s coaches may be weary of trying to find someone new to play that position, his performance last week would seem to indicate that the Titans’ offense is in capable hands for the time being.

 

Mercer County quarterback Chris Crawley-Goodman warms up as injured starter Drew Davis and coach Chris Pardue look on prior to the Titans' game against Marion County last week.

Great great kid. I'm glad he made the decision to play football.