Year of the Quarterback, Part 3: 4-year high school starter Cam Blair plays college waiting game

Editor's note: Steve Doerschuk spent months researching quarterbacks. The result is three waves of a series, "Year of the Quarterback." The first wave revolves around tremendous high school QBs fighting to find the field in college, starting with the tough transition to college followed by how high school stars pick colleges . This is the third article in the first wave.

Even as he moved from eighth grade to freshman year at Sandy Valley High School, Cam Blair came across as a football player who could bruise you.

"He was strong. He was thick. He was fearless," said Thom McDaniels, one of Blair's quarterback tutors then.

Quarterback became a "don't-touch-me" position in NFL culture. That was never Blair.

His aggressor aura was especially evident when he was a Sandy Valley senior powering through the OHSAA state wrestling tournament in the 195-pound weight class.

Also a baseball whiz, Blair wrapped up high school as 2020-21 Stark County Male athlete of the Year.

In football, he smashed Stark County passing records .

He was well liked in the community, a leader type people wanted to follow into the future.

Maybe his time as a collegian is still coming, but through three years at Ashland University, he's working and waiting.

Competition ran in the family.

Blair's mom, Melissa, swam for Perry High School and at Cleveland State University. His dad, Scott, played whatever sport was in season at Burton Berkshire High School. His brother, Caleb, wrestled for Sandy Valley and in college at Heidelberg.

In 2015, for the first time in Sandy Valley history, the Cardinals made the OHSAA football playoffs. Cam was a 12-year-old waterboy who followed quarterback Nelson Mozden everywhere.

"He probably didn't even know I was watching him," Blair said.

Mozden finished his senior season of 2016 with a school-record 4,444 career passing yards. Blair became the starter as a freshman in 2017.

He took lessons from McDaniels, a famous high school coach whose quarterback sons played at McKinley on their way to coaching NFL offenses. One son, Josh, spent years as Tom Brady's offensive coordinator in New England.

Thom McDaniels preached to Blair the same principles embraced by Brady as to footwork, balance, vision, execution and mindset.

Sandy Valley head coach Zach Gardner relocated to West Holmes after the 2016 season.

Brian Gamble was pomoted from within to be the new pilot.

"Cam's first start was against Fairless," Gamble recalls. "He put Stark County on notice."

Fairless won, but the kid fired two touchdown passes to tight end Bryce Kelly. A roller coaster of a 4-6 season included a late 48-13 loss at East Canton and a 51-30 rout of Malvern.

"We had seniors trying to win games in their last year, putting their faith in a 14-year-old kid," Blair recalled. "Really good teammates and coaches made it a great spot to succeed."

Blair was a sophomore with a name in 2018. A Game 3 donnybrook against Tusky Valley raged into the fourth quarter, when a punt stuck the Cardinals on their own 2.

"We ran play action," Gamble said. "We knew Cam could handle it."

He threw from the end zone, at the risk of taking a safety.

"Dante Tucci ran a post," Blair said. "It went for 98 yards. It's one of my favorite memories."

The Cardinals went 9-1 in the regular season, a school record for wins, but they lost 35-0 to Manchester in the playoffs.

A second straight 9-1 regular season in 2019 set up a first-round playoff game at Kirtland, a little-school giant that won its five previous postseason openers by a combined 227-13.

Kirtland dared Blair to throw into single coverage. He did, with relish, all night long despite bitter cold, almost pulling off the upset of the year.

"We came in as the 8 seed," Blair said. "They underestimated us, as I probably would if I was the 1 seed. We went to war. They won in the long run."

Tiger LaVerde's Kirtland team went on to its latest state championship. Sandy Valley came away with its most memorable season.

Blair's senior year intersected with the convoluted mess COVID-19 made of 2020.

Highlights in a 7-3 year were a 52-28 win at Indian Valley and a 35-20 playoff victory at Martins Ferry. After a 56-28 playoff loss to Kirtland, the Cardinals were permitted to schedule a non-tournament game.

The bonus game was supposed to be against Canton South and its freshman quarterback, Jack "Poochie" Snyder , but COVID sacked it.

A game against Girard replaced it. Late in a 63-34 Sandy Valley victory, Blair was pulled for a final bow. He trotted off with county records of 9,181 passing yards and 116 touchdown throws.

"I'll never forget the reaction from our crowd," Blair said. "Sandy Valley is an unbelieveable community."

Blair is 6 feet tall, too short by NCAA Division I standards, but he got some nibbles.

"Ohio U was here, working him out," Gamble said. "We thought he would wind up at OU. They had a coaching change. Then COVID hit, and it crushed everybody. It was the worst timing. Everybody on a college team was given an extra year of eligibility because of COVID. College teams couldn't afford too many offers with so many guys staying.

"It was so hard to see a kid of Cam's caliber in a situation where everybody was like … sorry, I've got my quarterback back for another year.

"Then there's the portal. So many teams have been getting their quarterbacks from the portal."

Blair signed with Ashland, where former Massillon head coaches Lee Owens and Tom Stacy were head coach and offensive coordinator, respectively.

"He was a three-sport athlete who was tough," Stacy said. "He was a state-tournament wrestler, which told us he's a competitor. He was physically strong. He could throw.

"He was a captain, a leader. He had a lot of the elements we thought we needed at that position."

McDaniels thought NCAA Division II, where Ashland competes, was a strong play for Blair.

"That's good football," McDaniels said. "I thought Cam could be on the depth chart as a freshman and compete to start as a sophomore."

NCAA Division I FBS teams, ranging from Ohio State to Ohio U, are permitted to award as many as 85 full athletic scholarships.

The number in Division I FCS, which includes Sacred Heart (destination of Poochie Snyder), is 63.

In NCAA Division II it is 36. Teams are allowed to divvy up the 36 "full rides" into partial scholarships.

Blair arrived at Ashland in 2021 understanding Austin Brenner was the established "QB1." Brenner, from Copley, had been at Ashland since 2018, when he was conference freshman of the year. He was humming along in 2021 before a Game 5 injury ended his season.

Delaware, Ohio, native Trent Maddox, in his second year at Ashland, started the next three games and was set to play a fourth, at Findlay.

"Ten minutes before the Findlay game, we were on the sidelines when I found out (Maddox) couldn't play," recalls Owens. "He had something come up.

"It was a tough spot … facing the team that wound up winning the league. I said, 'Cam, I need you man,' and he said he was ready. He played well and we almost won the game. He won the next game, our last game, against Kentucky Wesleyan.

"He was impressive as a true freshman."

It was uncertain Brenner would return in 2022 for a fifth year, but when he did Blair went back on hold. Brenner ended his career in good health and in style, going 10-2 with a playoff win.

Had Owens stayed, Blair might have started in 2023 and, if things broke right, in 2024 and 2025.

Instead, Owens retired after the '22 season. New coach Doug Geiser chose 6-foot-5 Trevor Bycznski as the new No. 1 QB.

Bycznski came through the transfer portal in 2022. He was a high school senior the year Blair was a Sandy Valley junior. At Berea-Midpark, Bycznski compiled Blair-like career numbers, 9,151 passing yards and 94 TD passes.

In their last three seasons of high school, Blair went 25-7 to Bycznski's 13-17. Advantage Blair.

Blair is 5 inches shorter. Advantage Bycznski.

Stacy, the Ashland play caller, said, "I like height, yeah, but if they can play, they can play."

If both can play, height is one of the tie-breakers.

Bycznski spent two seasons on the bench at Buffalo. He was a freshman in 2020 under coach Lance Leipold, who left in 2021 to be head coach at Kansas.

After Bycznski didn't see the field in 2021 under Leipold's Buffalo replacement, Maurice Linquist, he hit the transfer portal and landed at Ashland.

Bycznski backed up Brenner in 2022, throwing 52 passes in spot duty. Blair sat and took a redshirt, leaving him with eligibility for the 2023, '24 and '25 seasons.

The battle for No. 1 QB in 2023 boiled down to Blair vs. Bycznski.

With Owens retiring after the 2022 season, it was Geiser's call to make.

Owens was a head coach for nine years at Akron and 19 years at Ashland. Geiser was on Owens' staff all 28 years, but now he was in charge, and he chose Bycznski.

Bycznski started every game in a 9-3 season, completing 204 of 334 passes for 2,572 yards, with 26 TDs and six interceptions. Blair threw one pass all year.

With Bycznski returning in 2024, Blair faces the prospect of fighting to be the No. 2 QB while awaiting a possible run at the starting job in 2025.

"I'll tell him every spring, 'The job's open,'" Stacy said. "He'll come in and compete his tail off.

"Last year he beat out an older player who had been in the program longer (for No. 2). He was one play away from being the starter."

Stacy admits Blair's situation is "difficult."

"It's one of the dilemmas we fight in recruiting," he said. "Everybody here was a high school all-star.

"The guys who can persevere and get through the tough times … most of the guys I've been around who have done that have played."

Academically, Blair will be a senior aiming to leave Ashland with a master's degree in education. He wants to teach and coach. Gamble, his high school coach, predicts he will excel in those fields.

What's left for him as a football player?

"I know what my role is as a senior," Blair said. "I've got to prepare every week like I'm starting, even though I might not get the opportunity to play. I'm sticking with the process and believing in teammates and coaches. That's what you have to do.

"I have a redshirt. I can play a fifth year."

He opted not to enter the transfer portal.

"When you put your name on that paper, you're signing to help win games for as long as you can play at that school," he said. "Obviously there are situations where your coaches don't believe in you and you need to leave.

"With the situation I'm in, I believe I signed my name on that dotted line to play football at Ashland and win football games. I'm here. I'm going to make the most of it."

Blair is still a bruiser.

"He's strong … very strong," said his high school coach, Gamble.

He hasn't lost his cheering section back home.

"He's taken it," Gamble said. "It's tough with the portal because even if you are supposed to be the guy then, oops, somebody else slips in.

"He does not back down from anyone. Anyone. (Not playing) is very frustrating. It's frustrating for everybody.

"I know he deserves a shot. I think he'll get one."

Reach Steve at steve.doerschuk@cantonrep.com

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Year of the Quarterback, Part 3: 4-year high school starter Cam Blair plays college waiting game