Carroll receiver working to refine skills
On one hand, being labeled an “athlete” speaks to a football player’s ability to hold down almost any position on the field.
But on the other hand, settling in at a particular position can make the difference as to how good he can be. The ability to hone and develop specific skills will show.
Carroll senior wide receiver Zach Farrar no longer wants to emulate what the likes of Tariq Gordon and Parker Fentriss did in 2014. He wants to set his own tone to help Carroll’s pursuit of a ninth state championship this fall.
Farrar (6-4, 210) presents a big target and has all of the factors to suggest a big season awaits. At the Sparq event in March, he was laser tested in the 40-yard dash at 4.5 and recorded a 38-inch vertical. He finished with 99.8 overall score.
“I was just an athlete last year and learning the skill set to play the position,” Farrar said. “Everything that I’ve done in the offseason, spring football and 7-on-7 has become a platform for me to just become as good as I can.”
Farrar essentially played third receiver to Gordon and Fentriss. He only caught 29 passes but showed playmaking ability with 19.1 yards per reception. That average led all Dragons receivers.
But if he was going to take the next step, the extra time spent in January and February – and then mixing time with the baseball season – would be critical. Farrar talked with the Carroll offensive coaches about using his hands better, running routes more crisply and expanding on ways to release off the line of scrimmage and developing comfort in getting in and out of breaks.
That’s where the 7-on-7 season has helped. Since there’s not a lot of contact, Farrar can work on all of that. He’ll have more of an opportunity in mid-July. Carroll qualified for the state 7-on-7 tournament July 10-11 in College Station.
“I was trying to emulate what the other wide receivers were doing last year,” said Farrar, who plans to only play football in college. “I could catch the ball. But when it came to the fundamentals, I wasn’t as good as I needed to be ... I feel like I’ve made a lot of strides.”
Farrar is a Division I recruit. He already holds at least 18 offers. But most of those are from either non-Power 5 schools or other lower-tier Power 5 programs, including Washington, Purdue and Illinois.
If he wants to convince the top programs in the country that he can play for them, the first three games of the 2015 season against Austin Westlake, Tulsa (Okla.) Union and Midland Lee will be pretty important. The film from those games could convince someone like an LSU or Oklahoma State to look again.
“I’ve seen him grow as a blocker and route runner,” Carroll coach Hal Wasson said. “As with all good players, they continue to work and be coachable, to take their game to another level and be as good of a player and teammate possible.”
Farrar knows what he needs to do. When he visited Texas A&M’s camp and went through junior days at Baylor, A&M, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, he sought input. He said those programs already had seen his film and told him he was raw but could play.
Time will tell what happens, but Farrar would like to narrow his schools of interest to a list of finalists before the 2015 season starts. Schools that have shown the most interest and have offered are SMU, Washington, Illinois, Iowa and Maryland.
This story was originally published June 29, 2015 at 3:54 PM with the headline "Carroll receiver working to refine skills."