After playing QB out of necessity last season, Norwin’s Denny moves to receiver to take advantage of speed

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Monday, August 21, 2023 | 4:54 PM

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Quarterback was not Luke Denny’s bag.

When he played the position last season out of necessity, he did his best to limit mistakes and did what he could to manage the offense and move the sticks.

But the role came with a measure of tolerance.

“Didn’t like it much,” the Norwin senior admitted during a recent break at training camp. “I don’t have the best arm. They put me in the wildcat a lot to be a dual-threat QB. It was not the best experience.”

Denny was part of a quarterback carousel last season, taking over when then-freshman Tristyn Tavares was injured.

The Knights also played Jackson Pons under center as they tried to spark the offense.

With Tavares healthy this season, Denny and Pons can stretch their legs — and use their arms more — as wide receivers.

When Norwin played North Allegheny last year, Pons threw a touchdown pass to Denny.

“Pons is going to see a lot of double teams,” Norwin first-year coach Mike Brown said. “We need that second guy. Luke is that second guy. He is so athletic. I knew from seeing him on film and watching him in track. You can see with the way he runs. He’s a dude.”

Denny (6-foot-1, 180 pounds) expects to run the ball again, whether it is in the wildcat or on sweeps or reverses.

He did, after all, lead the Knights in rushing with a scant 175 yards on 34 carries.

“Not great,” he said.

That total — part of Norwin’s 352 rushing yards as a team — included a 79-yard run.

“We want to use our speed on offense,” Denny said.

Norwin likely will try to use short-range passes to give Denny and Pons room to maneuver and use their quickness. Maybe a short catch-and-go can be just as effective as a rush. Denny runs a 4.45-second 40-yard dash.

“Teams know Pons is crazy athletic,” Denny said. “Hopefully, I can get some looks, and they will start (covering) me more. I want to have a big impact on both sides of the ball. I am probably more fluent on defense.”

Brown concurred that the idea is to draw attention away from Pons and turn Denny into another threat.

Denny and Pons, a Miami of Ohio commit, also will complement each other in the defensive backfield as safeties, and both seniors — two of the team’s 10 12th graders — will return kicks and punts.

Denny was slow-starting last year when he re-injured his hip in camp. The injury first occurred during track and field season.

In his first action back, he took off for an 79-yard TD run against Plum.

A former soccer and baseball player who turned to track after he threw out his arm pitching, Denny runs the 400-meter dash.

“I used to run the 800, but that wasn’t too much fun,” he said.

Kind of like playing quarterback.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Norwin