The beauty of sport is that it’s all merit-based. You’re either good enough to be a starter, or you’re not.
But let’s be real; when the coach starts his own son, there will be gossip. Did the kid really earn it, or did dad give him preferential treatment?
Grady Hickey knows that’s a question he’ll have to deal with, especially now as the starting quarterback of the Galesburg Silver Streaks as a sophomore. A opening loss to Dunlap was rough, but an outstanding performance in a Week 2 win at Limestone has turned any critics – at least for now – to crickets.
“I feel like, in my mind, everyone else is always going to have something to say. You don’t always have to listen to them,” Hickey said. “What they say is not always right. I know that I worked for the starting spot and I think I earned it.”
Hickey was not expected to be the starter this year, but when a returning senior decided not to go out for the team, it became a training camp battle between him and fellow sophomore Day’Vion Jones. Silver Streaks coach, and Grady’s father, Shawn Hickey said he left the decision to his assistant coaches as to who should get the starting job.
Shawn Hickey, who said Grady and Jones are “best friends, who pull for each other,” accepted the assistants’ recommendation that his 6-foot-1, 140-pound son be the starter.
“I told my assistants that they had to make the decision, because I don’t want to be the one who, as the head coach, people say, ‘Well, he’s playing because of…’” Shawn Hickey said.
Grady Hickey completed 10 of 20 passes in the 42-25 win over Limestone, for 186 yards and one touchdown. He also ran the ball six times for 30 yards. The win broke a nine-game Galesburg losing streak, but things don’t get any easier with 2-0 and Western Big 6 favorite East Moline United coming to town on Friday, Sept. 12, for homecoming.
“We celebrated Friday night, but Saturday it was back to work and Sunday was watching film of our next opponent,” Grady said. “The first few minutes of the bus ride, everyone was excited. We were yelling, but after a while the adrenaline wore off. I feel like we have to be mentally focused, and that was a big part of our success (last) Friday.”
What’s it like in the Hickey household? Is father constantly talking to son about football, always on him to be studying the playbook or poring over film together in the den?
“We will talk some football, but after that, it’s more about our daily lives, how our day went,” Grady said.
Said Shawn Hickey: “When I am at school, I wear my teacher hat. When I’m at practice, I have my coach hat on. When I come home, I put my husband and father hats on. Sure, we’ll talk some football at the dinner table, but really not that much. It’s more just family time, not football.”
Drew Hickey, Grady’s older brother, also plays on the team. Unfortunately, he’s out four to six weeks right now with an injury. The oldest son, Riley, just graduated from the University of Illinois and is getting into the teaching profession at Galesburg, and also helps out with the football team.
Grady, a three-sport athlete (baseball and basketball are the others) knows he’ll need to get bigger and stronger to become an elite high school quarterback. Originally, he thought soccer would be his sport, but starting in seventh grade, he admits he “started feeling some pressure” to play football, given how big it was with his father and older brothers.
“Now, I’m glad I got that pressure, because I really enjoy the game,” he said.
Shawn Hickey, understandably, is reluctant to talk too much about his starting QB. But, hey, he’s a player too, and so what is his assessment so far?
“The word I would use is poise,” the coach said. “He knows the game and what’s in front of him. It takes a certain person, as a junior or senior, to trust a sophomore to lead you. But he has those leadership skills to be in the huddle and talk about things.”
If Grady Hickey keeps playing like he did in Week 2, there won’t be any more talk about one thing: his worthiness of the starting quarterback job.
This article originally appeared on Galesburg Register-Mail: Galesburg starting QB Grady Hickey carries on family tradition while learning on the job
Reporting by Adrian Dater / Galesburg Register-Mail
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
